Solar Flare
by Siavahda
Summary: Written for the Twilight Big Bang on lj. A rewrite of New Moon and Eclipse; Jacob is the one to rescue Edward in Volterra...and Bella is the one to bring the newborns to Forks.
1. Prologue

This was written for the Twilight Big Bang on livejournal, with the help of my amazing beta starry_night88.

**Pairings**: Edward/Bella, Jacob/Edward, all other canon pairings. Implied Alec/Jane (if you look _really _hard).  
**Summary**: A rewrite of New Moon and Eclipse. Jacob is the one who rescues Edward in Volterra...and Bella is the one to bring the newborns to Forks.  
**Warnings**: Angst, minor character death.  
**Notes**: Yes, this is an imprinting fic. No, it's not one of THOSE imprinting fics. Someone dared me that I couldn't take the cliche of an imprinting plotline and make it good; after reading this they admitted that I'd managed it. My beta and I sweated blood over this and worked really, really hard for half a year, so please don't backspace just because there's imprinting involved!

Two more things: one, I took some liberties with how Alice's visions work to make the story run smoothly, and two, in this story all werewolves are shapeshifters like Jacob's pack.

This fic is complete.

**Disclaimer**: If you recognise it, it's not mine!

* * *

"_We'll throw her a birthday party!"__ Esme__ decided, smiling brightly at her family gathered around her. "It will be wonderful. Alice, dear, if you would like to decorate...? And Emmett, perhaps you could do some research to see what would be appropriate?" _

_Edward hated to disappoint their mother, but he felt obliged to object. "Bella was quite firm in her desire not to celebrate -"_

_Alice gasped suddenly, and immediately they all turned to her. Jasper was at her side at once, cupping her deceptively-fragile face between his scarred hands in a gesture so very familiar to Edward; he held Bella just like that. Just as careful. Just as tender. _

"_Alice? What do you see?"_

_None of them breathed as they waited._

_Alice's mind was a whirlwind of shapes,__ colours__, and sounds. That was normal; every decision one of her family made altered those pictures and they changed from moment to moment. But now something bright and clear was emerging from that storm, crystal-sharp and perfect; something that punched Edward in the stomach hard enough to hurt._

_Edward does not remember the name of the boy that appears in Alice's mind, and Alice does not know it, but he__ recognises__ the face. It is the boy that had approached Bella at the prom half a year ago, the Quileute with the long hair and a history with the Swan family. But in the vision he is no longer a boy. He stands straight and tall and massive, dark hair shorn short, eyes deep and black like forest shadows and his skin a rich, earthy, natural__ colour__. Sun-kissed._

_And Edward. Cradled between the trunk of a tree and the Quileute's body. Kissing him._

_Edward recoiled, and the others looked at him, curious and worried by his reaction, but he couldn't even look at them. Only at Alice – Alice, who was staring back at him in wide-eyed amazement. _

"_No," Edward said fiercely in response to that look. "_**_No_**_. It will _**_never _**_happen__!" The boy was a stranger, a Quileute teenager from Bella's past. Edward didn't even know him. He said so. "He is not even an acquaintance, Alice. I swear to you, I don't even know his name!"_

'_You saw how clear my vision was, Edward,' Alice said silently. Even her mental voice was full of shock. 'It _**_will_**_ happen.'_

"_No," Edward snarled._

"_Edward," Carlisle chided him. _

"_Alice, what did you see?" Rosalie asked, curious._

_Alice hesitated. _

"_She saw me kissing someone else," Edward hissed._

_Rosalie was instantly smug; the others' thoughts ranged from baffled to mildly relieved to disappointed. None of them considered the idea that Alice might be wrong._

"_Who? Tanya?" Jasper asked with a frown._

_Edward snarled again. "It doesn't matter who! It will never happen!" _

"_Edward, that's enough," Carlisle said sternly. "You know Alice has no control over what she sees. Now, calm yourself. The future is not set in stone – whatever comes, we will deal with together. Now, please__ apologise__ to your sister__." _

_Edward closed his eyes, forcing himself to breathe, to leash his temper. "My apologies, Alice," he said stiffly. It was true; he knew his sister had no choice over her visions. "I should go. I'll be back later."_

_He left, quickly. Ran far and fast until he couldn't hear the conversation they were having behind him. _

_He didn't ever want to hear it._

_By the time he returned, Esme had successfully turned the minds of his family to Bella's birthday party. He did not try to object again. _

_But if he had known… If he had ever dreamed of what was to come, he might have tried again, and more vehemently. Perhaps he would even have been successful. Perhaps he could have averted the heartbreak, and the betrayal, and the deaths._

_Not a one of them linked Alice's vision to the decision to throw a birthday party for Edward's mortal beloved. Not one of them could see that Esme's suggestion was the first link in a long, long chain._

_The gifts. The wrapping paper. The paper cut, and Jasper's thirst, his lack of control. His attack. _

_Their leaving. _

_Or more specifically... The presents that Edward hid under a floorboard rather than take back. The air plane tickets. The CD he had made her. _

_The photographs. _

_No, not even Alice could have foreseen all the links in this chain._


	2. Chapter 1

"Oh!"

"Alice? What is it, dear?" Esme asked, rushing to kneel at Alice's feet as her Seer of a daughter sat down abruptly. "Are you alright? Do you see something?"

Jasper sat down beside his mate automatically, wrapping his arms around her. "Alice?"

His lover – his wife, several times over – stared blankly into the distance, her beautiful golden eyes glazed like the topaz gemstones they resembled. Jasper could taste her surprise, her confusion – mingled relief and disappointment like rain and ashes.

"Edward's future," Alice murmured. "It's changed again."

Emmett and Carlisle exchanged a glance, Emmett's face unusually somber at the reminder.

When Alice had foreseen Edward kissing an unfamiliar Quileute boy, it had shocked the entire family. None of them would have questioned Edward's feelings for Bella if the vision had never happened – but it had. And no one bet against Alice.

Except Edward. He had been so angry, confused and distraught and horrified. None of them had ever seen him like that. It was enough to imprint the occasion in their thoughts, so much so that it must have been a double relief for Edward to leave them, to get away from the reminder, away from his family's confusion that only grew when Alice discovered that leaving Bella wasn't enough to erase Edward's future with the Quileute.

They had left Forks at Edward's say-so – and then he had left _them_, gone far away so that he wouldn't have to hear them wondering, thinking, hoping.

Because if he couldn't bring himself to love Bella… Maybe he could love someone else?

"How has it changed?" Carlisle asked when the rest of the family seemed reluctant.

Alice frowned. "The boy I saw. He...vanished."

Jasper felt her confusion. "He died?"

Alice hesitated. "I don't _think_ so..." She said cautiously. "I'm really not sure." She faced her mate, a faint frown drawn between her delicate brows. "I've never seen anything like it. Just blackness."

None of them could offer an explanation for such a thing, and it worried them all. Alice's gift had never failed them – had never failed to forewarn a danger or prepare for a great joy.

And far away, Jacob Black transformed into a wolf for the first time.


	3. Chapter 2

He was halfway out before she realised there was something wrong with the picture, and her heart stuttered when she remembered. How many times had Edward climbed in and out of her window?

The reminder was like a blow, and for an agonisingly long moment she felt breathless.

"Don't be an idiot," she whispered. "You'll break your leg. Use the door. Charlie's not going to catch you."

She couldn't watch him jump down. Couldn't take the reminder of the one she was meant to forget.

He muttered something, but she couldn't make out the words past the threat of that reminder. The gnawing darkness that threatened to leap out and drown her again, after all these weeks. The agony.

And then suddenly she was in his arms, and off the floor.

"Can't – breathe!" Bella gasped, struggling in Jacob's grip.

Instantly contrite, he put her down, careful to keep a hold of her wrist so she wouldn't fall. He helped her sit down on the bed.

"Get some sleep, Bells," he ordered quietly. "You've got to get your head working. I know you can do this. I _need_ you to understand. I won't lose you, Bella. Not for this."

She stared at him, a little scared by the fierce intensity in his face, ringing through his words. Urgency. There was an almost desperate urgency in him that she couldn't understand. The whole situation made no sense to her, scared her more than a little. Thoughts of cults and their dangers swam around her mind, but he didn't give her a chance to ask any more questions; he smiled, a little weakly, and turned to the door.

He paused.

"What is it?" She asked, frightened all over again by the tense line of his shoulders.

He didn't answer her. He just turned on his heel and dropped to one knee, running his hands – his huge hands! - over the wooden boards of her floor. The intense expression had come back, and if the hug hadn't distracted her this would have.

"Jake? What is it?" She asked again, frowning from where she sat on the bed.

Suddenly, there was a _crack!_ under his hands, and she jumped.

"Quiet!" She hissed, glancing at the door. "You'll wake Charlie!"

But Jacob wasn't listening to her. He was staring down at his hands.

When she saw what he was holding, her breath caught with an audible hiss, and her hand flew to her mouth.

"What are these?" Jake whispered.

There was a lump in her throat. A clump of sharp edges, half-melted knife blades all stuck together and lodged in her throat. It hurt to swallow. It hurt to just _breathe_.

"The presents," she forced out finally. "My birthday presents. F-from -"

She couldn't say it – couldn't say _his _name – but Jacob nodded as if he understood. He still hadn't looked up at her face – he was staring at the gifts. She couldn't make out which one held his attention through the haze of tears.

"How did you know they were there?" She asked quietly, reaching for a distraction. She struggled to focus on that, and not on – not on -

Jacob didn't answer her. He just kept staring at his hands.

Sniffling, Bella brushed the back of her hand over her eyes. Swallowed hard. "Jake?" She could see him, now. He was staring at one of the photographs she'd taken with Charlie's camera. The CD Edward had made her and the airline tickets from Carlisle and Esme were on the floor. She hadn't seen him put them down... "Are you okay?"

"...Yeah," he said slowly, but he was still staring at the photograph as if mesmerised. "Yeah, I'm. I'm fine."

He shook himself all over, like a dog, and got to his feet more unsteadily than she ever remembered seeing him. "I should go, right?"

Bella stared at him. "Right," she said softly, a little hurt. Now would have been a good time for one of Jacob's hugs, but the Quileute boy looked dazed, stunned. "Mind the fourth step, it squeaks."

He nodded, but a bit jerkily, and she wondered if he'd heard her.

He slipped out of the room without another word or a backward glance.

It wasn't until she managed to go and kneel down beside the small pile of presents that she realised that Jacob had taken one of the photographs. The one in which Edward was smiling at the camera – was smiling at her.

* * *

"Sam."

Sam looked up from the rough map of the rez. "Jacob? Is something wrong?"

Jacob glanced at the others around the table and hesitated. It had been a week since Bella had figured it out – figured out what he was. What they all were. And the information she had more or less willingly given them about the vampire they were hunting – Victoria, Bella called her – had kept the whole pack busy. It had provided a distraction, something they could all throw themselves into and focus on.

But sooner or later he was going to slip up – and the pack would see things in his head he didn't want them to see.

"Can I talk to you?" He asked, looking up to meet Sam's eyes. "In…in private?"

Sam frowned, but nodded and dismissed Seth and Embry; they left instantly, without a word. It was impossible not to respect Sam; he took his responsibilities seriously, and took care of them well. Jacob didn't regret for one moment turning down the position of alpha – he could never be what Sam was. He could never be as _good_ as Sam was.

"Talk to me." Sam moved around the table to sit on its edge, leaning back on it to face Jake. "Sit down, Jacob." Jacob sat. "Tell me what's bothering you."

Privacy was almost impossible to find around werewolves, but once Sam bad sent the others away he and Jacob were alone, with the house to themselves. It made it easier, but harder as well; there was nothing to distract or share Sam's focus on him.

Jacob took a deep breath.

"I think I've imprinted."

Sam's eyes lit up. "But that's -!" He hesitated, taking in Jacob's expression. "...Wonderful?"

Jacob was silent a moment. "I think so," he said quietly, and now he was staring at the floor, avoiding Sam's eyes. "I'm just…not sure the rest of you will agree."

Sam raised an eyebrow, waiting.

Jacob sighed. "It's Edward Cullen," he said harshly, and the wolf in him wouldn't sit quiet and submissive – he looked up defiantly, daring Sam to despise him and terrified that he would.

How to explain it? How to explain the pride, the joy, the excitement, the longing and the unreasonable, illogical, impossible _love_, the inability to be ashamed of it all? The photograph hidden between his mattress and the box spring that still carried traces of the vampire's scent – how to explain what it meant to him now? The sweetness of that smell, so delicious, so _needed_ that he pressed the glossy paper to his nose to inhale every trace, to have it on his skin? How could he explain the stray thoughts, the wordless longing, the dreams that made him ache in his shorts and in his soul?

And how to explain the bone-deep terror of losing his pack over it?

But Sam didn't burst out in profanities or disbelief. Shock smacked across the older wolf's face as if he'd been punched, but he was silent as his dark brows drew into a frown. Jacob could almost _see_ his alpha wrestling with his instinctive burst of temper, forcing himself to think and consider what he was being told. It was more than Jacob would have done, more than he _could_ have done if their positions were reversed. No way would Jake have been able to overcome his racial loathing to face this kind of revelation calmly – and yet that was exactly what Sam did.

"You're sure?" No screaming about _vampires_ and _natural enemies_ and _two_ _men together_; just _Are you sure?_

"It's the same way you feel about Emily," Jacob said softly. He had caught glimpses of the unbearable sweetness, the _rightness_ that was an imprinted bond; they all had. And once he'd experienced it, it was impossible not to recognise.

"All right." It had been the right thing to say; Sam bowed his head and closed his eyes, thinking deeply. "All right. It makes no difference to the situation now, anyway." He looked up again suddenly, black eyes piercing. "You know you can't leave to go find him? Not now, Jacob. We need you here."

Jacob looked away; the words felt like a knife in his gut. But it was true. He was one of the strongest in their pack, an invaluable asset until they killed Victoria.

"I know," he said quietly.

Sam's face softened. "I understand, Jacob. I do. And I will make things no harder than they have to be for you, I promise." He watched for any change of expression in Jake's face. "But you know, the others... Most of them won't understand."

Jake's expression twisted. "Yeah, well. It's not like there's anything I can do about it, is there?" He snapped, bristling. Not at Sam. Sam – Sam was the only one who could understand. Hadn't they all felt Sam's pain, his guilt at abandoning Leah the way he had? But there had been no choice to make. There was no way to say _no_ to the bond, not once it had a hold of you. The most exquisite noose in the world – a rope of light tied around your mind, your heart, your soul, binding you to those eyes forever. A thousand diamond cables holding him to Edward.

It made everything so simple. Rewrote right and wrong, black and white, until the only thing that mattered was a smile, a laugh, another person's joy. Nothing mattered compared to that. Not the history of their race, not his father's disappointment, not the pack's disapproval. If his friends turned their backs on him for this... To say it wouldn't hurt him was a lie. But it would be easier to stop breathing than to stop loving Edward. And Quil, Embry... none of them could change that.

No one would ever be able to convince him that something that felt this right could be wrong.

"No," Sam agreed. "There isn't." He was silent a moment, still thinking. Jacob wasn't sure whether he was grateful or frustrated that they weren't in wolf-form, where Jake would be able to see into Sam's head. But maybe it was better not to hear his alpha's thoughts just now.

"When Victoria is dead, you can leave here to search for Edward," Sam said suddenly, and Jake's head jerked up in shock, unable to believe what he was hearing. "I'm not cruel, Jacob. And I know how it feels. To be separated from Emily... I have no idea how I could bear it, and I won't put you through it any longer than I have to."

A longing so strong it almost knocked Jacob onto his knees crashed through him like a tsunami. The thought – just the _thought_ of leaving, of finding the months-old trail and tracking the vampire, finding him – finding _Edward_...

He looked up, struggling to breathe as he felt Sam's hand on his shoulder – warm and tender as a benediction.

_This is why he's our alpha_, Jake thought, looking up at him. Sam looked like a king – a wild, tribal king maybe, but a king nonetheless – giving a favoured knight his blessing. _Because he always knows just what we need._

"It will all work out, Jake," Sam promised softly. "You'll find him, or he'll come back. The pack... They will settle down eventually, after they have time to accept what this means." He smiled; a small, gentle smile. "Imprinting... It's like a fairytale. It always has to work out."

It's not until hours later, when he's making a simple dinner for him and his dad, that Jacob realises that for a fairytale, Sam's imprint caused an awful lot of pain. Leah's broken heart, Emily's face, the destruction of the cousins' friendship.

Maybe imprinting isn't a guarantee that everything will work out fine.

* * *

It happened on patrol.

Sam had helped teach Jacob a few tricks to keep Edward out of his thoughts while the pack was together, but they were running the line and found Victoria's scent and it was in Jacob's head before he could stop himself, _urgh__ gross she smells so much worse than Edward, sweet sweet Edward-smell the fingerprints of scent on the photograph, photograph of his eyes his smile oh God I miss him miss him –_

It jolted them all.

_?_

Wordless shock screamed through the pack, so hard and sudden that Jared completely lost the scent and ran into Paul's side.

Sam snapped at Jared's leg, trying to get them back on track, but the state of mind – the pack-mind, Jacob called it - that usually had them working together seamlessly dissolved into chaos.

_What where when __**WHY?**_ Half a dozen voices yelled at him, the force of six werewolves pounding against Jacob's mind in a demand for answers. The coldly polite questions that might have been asked while they were all human were forgotten; it was as impossible for the others to restrain the whirlwind of their thoughts as it had been for Jacob to keep his imprint a secret; they could not have stopped themselves from attacking Jacob's mind even if they had tried. It was more than curiosity – it was disbelief, and confusion, and anger, and horror, and disgust; an unstable chemical compound ready at any moment to explode.

_Tell us tell us __**TELL US!**_

_**STOP! **_Sam roared.

Everyone shut up at once.

The alpha glared at all of them, sleek blackness padding across the mossy ground to stand beside Jacob in an unquestionable show of solidarity. Internally, Jacob winced; he didn't need to be babied, and even able to feel Sam's protective instinct he felt patronised. _I can take care of myself_.

_Jacob has imprinted on the vampire Edward Cullen._ Sam's voice rumbled through their minds, the golden timbre of _alpha_, so that not one of the restless wolves – the confused, half-panicked wolves – could fail to listen and know that he spoke the truth. _At the end of this run, we will discuss what needs to be discussed. Now is not that time. We are hunting Victoria! The vampire that has slipped past us a dozen times! None of you can have your mind on anything else, or someone will get hurt who did not have to. _He growled, baring long, savage teeth. _Now __**MOVE!**_

As one, they slipped into pack-mind like dolphins into an ocean, sleek and easy, and Embry yipped as he found the trail again.

They ran.

* * *

They didn't find Victoria. They didn't even catch a glimpse of her before the trail vanished beyond the bounds of their territory.

That frustration only fanned the flames of the pack's shock and confusion as they shifted back.

"You imprinted on a _leech_?" Leah shrieked.

Jacob winced; Sam snarled.

"You will show respect," he growled.

Leah lifted her chin defiantly. "Don't you go there, Sam! Don't even _start!_" Her dark eyes blazed. "_Your _damn imprint ruined my life! Now you're telling me I'm going to have to be buddy-buddy with some _vampire?_"

"He's not even here," Embry said hesitantly, glancing at Jacob uncertainly. "Is he? I thought the Cullens were gone?"

"They _are_ gone," Leah said triumphantly before Jacob could answer. "Far, far away, and they're _never_ coming back!"

Jacob snapped.

"Stop!" Someone shouted, but he didn't hear them; with a low snarl he leapt and shifted and crashed into Leah, Leah who was ready and waiting for him as a smaller, storm-coloured wolf as if she'd been trying to provoke him. And maybe she had; past the red, burning haze across his eyes Jacob couldn't tell and didn't _care_ – he just wanted her to _shut up_, to _shut up _ and never _ever _say that again – because he _would_ come back, he _would_, or Jake would find him, find him and love him and convince Edward to love him back, they would _work_, they would be _happy _–

"JACOB!"

It wasn't the alpha voice – Sam could only produce that particular tone when he was in wolf-form, in their heads – but the sheer volume made Jacob's ears flatten against his skull, and he tasted blood in his mouth.

"Get off her!" Seth, small, gangly Seth who hadn't even shifted into wolf-form before trying to pull Jake off of his sister. The boy's small hands fisted in his fur, pulling and ripping at it violently. "Get _off! _Leah!"

Dazed, Jacob let himself be pulled away.

Leah wasn't dead. Thank God, she wasn't dead. She didn't even seem to have any broken bones. But she was flat on the ground, panting weakly, her eyes glazed with pain and her grey fur wet and thick with blood from a dozen deep furrows in her sides, and a set of bite marks up near her muzzle, and she didn't look good at all.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Seth was shouting, desperate, urgent, and he knelt by the brown wolf that was his sister as if his proximity could heal her. "God, Leah, please be okay, please please please –"

Jacob felt cold. Numb. As hard and untouchable as ice.

But why weren't any of the others reacting?

"Seth, Leah will be fine," Sam said quietly, and Seth looked up at their alpha with tears of fear in his eyes. "She will. I promise. We have had worse injuries before you joined us."

Seth glanced at Jacob as if unconvinced, and he wrapped his arms around Leah's neck, whispering to her. His body didn't quite shield Leah's injuries from view, and true to Sam's words they were already sluggishly closing.

"Jacob, shift back."

Jacob obeyed without thinking about it, sliding easily into his human skin. It felt far more natural than it had for that first change. He remembered hearing that the human mind fuzzed over memories of great distress, and it was true; he could barely remember the explosion of heat and fear and anger that had torn him out of the body he'd been born into and reforged his blood and bones into that of a wolf. Now it was just another part of him; then, it had been a crucible of panic.

Sam looked at him calmly. "I am not going to punish you," he announced, as much for the benefit of the rest of the pack as for Jacob. "Because if someone had said that about Emily, I would have reacted in the same way."

Jacob stared at him as Seth burst into protest.

Sam broke their gaze and turned to the other wolves. "Listen to me, all of you. None of you have imprinted. Maybe some of you will, and maybe you won't, but as of yet you cannot understand what it means to be bound to another person so tightly. Nothing, not even your natural loathing for vampires, can trump your wolf's instincts to love, cherish and _defend _ your imprinted. _Nothing._ Not your honor," he glanced at Leah, with something that might have been old guilt in his eyes, "Not your family, and not your pack."

Someone – Jake thought it might have been Jared – made to interrupt, but Sam raised his hand to cut them off. "I am not finished.

"I understand that all of you are confused and frightened." He didn't mention the disgust and horror that had also ripped through the pack-mind when Jacob had accidentally revealed all, and for that Jake was grateful. He didn't need that reminder. "Some of you find your notions of who Jacob is to be challenged. Some of you are afraid that you too will imprint on someone of your own gender, or another vampire, or simply someone who you do not know or like." Sam paused. "And I cannot promise that it will not happen. The stories we have don't explain how the imprint works, or why it occurs. This is the first pack our histories tell of that has a female werewolf. Jacob is the first wolf to imprint on another man. Perhaps our pack contains some new variable that is breaking the normal rules; perhaps these things were always possible but simply never had reason to happen before. I don't know.

"But I _do_ know that if it does happen to any of you, there will be no self-disgust. You won't feel confused or conflicted, only in love." It sounded weird to hear Sam talk about love so easily, as if it _wasn't _something off a Hallmark card, but Jake knew exactly what he meant so he kept the thought to himself. Besides, Sam was doing this for him. "It is only terrifying until it happens. Then, nothing else matters. I do not want any of you to be afraid of imprinting; if it doesn't happen to you, then there is nothing to fear, and if it does, nothing in your life will feel as good. I promise you."

Sam met Leah's eyes. "Jacob is still our Jacob," he said fiercely. "He is still a wolf of this pack. He has _not_ changed. You may not understand how or why he imprinted; I cannot ask you to. But he is _not_ an outcast. He had no choice in the matter, and no one – _no one _in this pack will punish him for the hand fate has dealt him.

"Are we all clear?"

Jacob was still kneeling on the ground. He hadn't moved since he'd shifted back; he hadn't even dressed. But he didn't think the physical nakedness could strip him half as bare as Sam's words just had.

"…Well, I think I'm okay with it," Quil declared after a noticeable pause. "Not like Cullen's an _ugly_ dude, dude."

Just like that, the tension dissipated; somebody laughed, and if no one completely relaxed then they came close – closer, anyway. Embry made a crack about nose plugs for the stink that set them all off, and Jake grinned, the steel-hard-cold wariness in him melting away as he leapt up and took a swipe at one of his brothers for making kissy noises at him.

He saw a few of the guys get dressed a little quicker than they might have before, and it made hurt and anger coil thin and tight in his gut, but he said nothing. It wasn't like he could blame them. How would Jake have reacted, just a few weeks ago, if one of the others announced that they had imprinted on a guy? Wouldn't he have assumed that the wolf was gay? Wouldn't he have been as awkward about changing in front of that guy as they all were around Leah?

But it wasn't like that. Really. Jacob wasn't gay; he'd _never_ looked at his brothers and thought _nice ass_ or whatever. As if he could have kept it a secret in the pack-mind if he had!

No, he wasn't gay. Hadn't been before he became a wolf, and he wasn't now. He was just…Edsexual. Or something.

…How _did_ you have sex with a guy?

* * *

After a little internet research on the topic, Jacob was scarred for life.

"Oh my God, that's _gross! _"

"What?"

Panicking, Jacob slammed the lid of the laptop down, effectively hiding the traumatising material. "Nothing," he yipped, feeling himself going red. "Nothingnothingnothing!"

Jared, lounging in the doorway, raised his eyebrow.

Jacob growled half-playfully, mostly relieved that it hadn't been his father.

Jared, the bastard, just smirked.

With a pitiful sigh, Jacob buried his head in his hands.

"I don't know how to do this," he admitted.

"Do what?"

Jacob gestured one-handedly at the computer. "Guys. Together. I don't know how to do that."

Jared's smirk disappeared, and he cocked his head. "I thought you had imprinted on the leech?"

Jacob's head snapped up, and the growl this time wasn't playful at all.

Jared's hands came up, placating. "Sorry, man. Just a habit. I thought you'd imprinted on Cullen?"

Jacob wasn't convinced that Jared was very sorry, but he let it go, remembering what Sam had told him about accepting the pack's reactions.

"I did," he said warily, wondering where this was going. "So?"

"So shouldn't you…you know…" Jared's expression was abruptly awkward, and he avoided looking Jake straight in the face. "Like guys now?"

"_No_," Jacob snapped. "_No_, I _don't_, okay? You are still the same pain in the ass you were two weeks ago. So is everybody else!" He tried to leash his temper, but he hated it, hated the thought of his brothers being awkward with him, a confusion and lack of comprehension that bordered on fear. "Sorry. I just." He waved a hand helplessly.

Jared nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said solemnly, "I guess it must be kind of confusing for you too, huh?"

They were both silent for a while before Jake got up the courage to say what he wanted to say.

"No, not really," he murmured. "It's not confusing at all. It's actually more like everything makes sense now."

He looked up. "It's just him," he said quietly. "Edward. It's just him. There's no one else in the world who –" He struggled to find the words. "I'm not gay," he said finally. "It's just him."

"Man, you don't even know him," Jared said softly.

"If you can't deal with it, go somewhere else," Jacob snapped, forgetting his silent promise to be calm about this. He thought he could handle their reactions, he really did. But _no one_ was allowed question his feelings, not even for a single second. "Sam explained it all to you, didn't he? It happened. It's done. Don't even _think_ about trying to change it."

"How can you be in love with someone you don't know?" Jared demanded. "It's insane, Jake! Seriously insane! Maybe you're just confused about the feelings we get from Sam, did you ever think about that? 'caus we all feel weird about Sam's imprint, Jake, we all –"

Jacob didn't even feel himself move. One moment, he was in the chair, struggling to hold back the change from ripping through him, trying to breathe calmly; the next, he had one arm slammed across Jared's throat, pinning him to the opposite wall, breathing hard. Jared wasn't breathing at all; frozen with shock and fear, he was staring at the wild fury that had swallowed everything in his brother in an instant.

"Get out," Jacob hissed. "Get off my land and don't even _think_ about coming back. Not until you can keep your mouth shut about Edward."

He let his arm fall; Jared stumbled, but the bruises on his neck were already fading.

"Jake…"

"_Out_!"

Jared went.

* * *

Jacob lay on his back, staring at the ceiling of his room. Since he started growing, his bed had become too small – his legs dangled over the end now – but he didn't want to call Billy's attention to it. Money had been tight since his dad's accident, and Jacob wasn't willing for his father to go without something he needed – like new tires for his chair, he'd noticed that the old ones were starting to look worn – just so that Jake could have a bed that fit.

It wasn't that big of a deal.

He thought about…what he'd seen on the net. Thought about what sex with a guy entailed.

It was weird. He'd never thought about it before, never _needed_ to think about it before. Before the change, he'd sometimes thought about girls – about their soft hair, the swell of their breasts and the curves of their hips. More than once, he had tried to imagine what kissing Bella would feel like. It had always inspired shivery little sparks that fluttered like butterflies in his stomach, made his mouth fill with saliva so that he had to swallow hard.

He closed his eyes, and tried to imagine kissing Edward instead.

Jacob had only met Edward once. When his dad sent him to tell Bella 'we'll be watching' in exchange for car parts, outside the Forks High prom, and Edward had come to take Bella inside. Jacob's memory wasn't perfect enough to recall every detail of the vampire's face; he hadn't been looking, hadn't cared enough to memorise the features that were everything to him now. He only remembered a warning disdain, only remembered dislike.

But he had the photograph. _That_ he had memorised, and effortlessly he brought the image up in his mind.

He imagined laying his hand against the side of Edward's face. Vampires were cold; how cold? Would it feel like the wind on his face, or snow on his burning skin? Edward's scent would be stronger with him so close, so strong… He imagined hot want in those burnished gold eyes, love and desire, but Edward wouldn't act like a girl, would he? Putting his arms around Jacob's neck was kind of girly. Around his waist, then, where Jake could feel the coolness of his hands through his shirt.

Those lips… Smooth. Cool. Sweet.

Heat, as hot and golden as Edward's eyes in his mind, coiled tightly in the pit of his stomach as he pictured the vampire's mouth under his, imagined those lips opening for him. Edward wouldn't kiss like a girl either, he wouldn't be docile and meek; his hands would fist in Jake's shirt to pull him closer, or fly up to do the same in his hair, smashing their mouths together. He remembered the fierce wildness he'd seen in Victoria, the vampire they hunted; he imagined the same animal force in Edward, the strength that could shatter logs into splinters and the blurring speed, and all the while that sweet, heady smell making his head spin. Fire and ice; would it feel like plunging into the ocean from the cliffs, his tongue in Edward's mouth? The sheer, burning relief of icy water against flaming skin?

Would it feel like that if they were skin to skin? More hesitantly now, shy in his own head, Jacob smoothed their clothes out of the picture, but it was difficult to imagine Edward's body. He had no idea what the other boy – man – looked like.

_Think._

His stomach tightened, and he swallowed. Well – Edward was smaller than him. Jacob's wolf genes had made him grow in all directions. He was inches taller than the vampire now, and his body was thicker, more muscled, harder.

Harder?

No, vampires were hard. Cool and smooth and hard. He would feel like marble under Jacob's hands, pale and perfect, and the heat of Jacob's skin would make him shudder. It would feel good to be held by something warm when you were so cold, wouldn't it?

That thought prompted Jake to open his eyes and frown, ignoring the shuddery tightness in his gut. _Would_ it feel good, for Edward? It was…vital, to see that face transformed with bliss, thrown back in pleasure. Instinctively necessary. He _had_ t0 see it – had to be the cause of it. The reason for that look on Edward's face.

He put his hands over his face, forcing himself to breathe slowly and think hard. On one level, the whole thing seemed…stupid. Regardless of how he felt about the fact, Edward wasn't here, and learning how to kiss another man wasn't something Jake would need for a while. But now that the thought was in his head, he felt stressed, restless, sick with the knowledge that there was something he didn't know, something that could give his mate pleasure. Inadequacy felt like a knife in his lungs, but how did you go and learn how to kiss except by practice?

Especially when the idea of kissing _anyone_ but Edward made him feel physically ill.

But… He felt his cheeks heat beneath his hands as he remembered the links to instructional videos he'd seen on the webpage . How Tos – _How to Kiss, How to French Kiss_. He could learn, maybe. Without having to practice on anyone. He'd heard the saying that practice was always better than theory, but theory was better than nothing, and it would soothe the wolf's nausea at his own ignorance.

There had been other videos._ How to Give a Blowjob…How to Prep…How to Make Love. _The second hadn't made any sense at all until he'd hesitantly clicked onto the third.

And quickly hit the _back_ button.

His first reaction had been _awkwardgrossbackbackback! _It had been purely _weird_ – to see…to hear…to know what guys did together was _that_.

_Gay sex. Guy sex. _He forced himself to think the words, because it was true. That was what it was, and there was no point calling it anything else. It would be _ridiculous_ and _childish_ to call it anything else.

But still. The thought of putting his fingers. His cock. _There?_

It was _weird_. Not exactly wrong or unnatural or whatever. He didn't know anyone who was openly homophobic – didn't know anyone who was gay, for that matter. But on the rez, it was easy to pretend that things like being gay didn't exist. It wasn't something anybody talked about. You got taught about it in school, briefly, because you couldn't leave the rez and go out into the world not knowing something like that. But aside from that.

So he wasn't homophobic. Didn't think anyone that he knew was. But that didn't make the thought of two guys together not-weird.

_What if it was Edward?_

It was something he needed to think about, wasn't it? And he _did _want – something. He wanted to be as close as possible to his mate, to make him feel amazing, to be inside him. And this was how that happened when two people in love were guys…

_Focus_.

He hadn't seen much of the video; maybe four or five seconds of the clip. But he had seen plenty of movies and TV with carefully shot sex scenes, and once a porn video at some guy's birthday last year. Carefully, he mentally put the two together with the photograph that even now rested hidden under his mattress.

Hot, pumping desire flared through his entire body with such strength and suddenness that he gasped.

_Edward. Edward on his back, hands fisted in the sheets, legs spread. Biting his lip. Head thrown back. That perfect body trembling, fighting to be still as Jacob slid into him, into that coolness, that hot-skin-freezing-water relief. His cock hard against Jake's stomach. A moan, sinfully lower than any girl's, spilling from those lips as his hands tangled in Jake's hair. _

"_More. Please!"_

Oh, yes. His wolf _loved_ that. He heard himself growl aloud as his lust grew, swirled, coiled through him; _mine_. His hand slid down his body; _mine to touch._ Into his shorts. _Mine to hold_. He groaned as his hand curled around his cock, already achingly hard at the thought of Edward spread out beneath him. _Mine to protect._ His hand moved, pulled in time to the thrusts in his head, tighter, harder, faster, because Edward was no Emily, not fragile and delicate and breakable but strong, so strong, and Jake would make him lose control, would show him that werewolves didn't break easy either, equal in strength and together –

He shuddered once, all along his body, forcibly holding himself still as he came, hard; in his mind he drove in deep one last time, spilling heat into Edward's cool body.

Jacob panted softly, languorous in the afterglow. Lazy golden ripples shivered along his nerve endings like caresses, and rather than abandon his fantasy he lingered in it, cupping Edward's face in his hands to kiss him. Soft and loving and deep and brimming with emotion.

He didn't know how to kiss like that yet, not really. But he would. By the time he saw Edward again, Jake would know.

He cracked his eyes open – when had they closed? – and sighed at the mess. Better get himself cleaned up before his dad got home.

* * *

"So, Cullen, huh?"

Jacob shrugged, hoping he wasn't blushing as the two of them jogged to the pack's meeting place for their next patrol. Not an hour ago, he'd been intently studying one of the instructional videos, and his mind was still full of what to do with your hands when your tongue was in someone else's mouth. For once he was dreading patrol – because while he knew the sooner they killed Victoria the sooner he could leave and find Edward, he was pretty sure the moment they were all in wolf-form the others would get a blast of his kissing technique.

Quil eyed him speculatively. "He's pretty," he offered.

Against his will – automatically – Jake smiled, effortlessly bringing up a picture of Edward's face in his mind's eye. "He's beautiful," he corrected softly. He wasn't going to go all lovey-dovey in public, but – God. Edward was stunning. The most beautiful creature on earth. To say he was pretty was like saying the ocean was big. It didn't do the thing justice.

A low whistle rang out. "Damn, you've got it bad," Quil said almost to himself, an undisguised thread of amusement running through his voice.

Jake thought of the photo under his mattress, and the way he held it, pressed it to his cheek as if he could touch his mate that way. "You have no idea."

"Guess that's what imprinting means," Quil said, definitely to himself this time. Jacob didn't answer, curious as to where his friend was going with this.

"I just," Quil said suddenly, "I just wanted to say. That. Well, I don't _get it_, really, but – I've still got your back, Jake. Just wanted you to know that."

Jacob didn't trip – their werewolf senses were all too fine for that – but warmth blossomed in his chest, and the instinct to throw his head back and howl his joy at the evening sky was almost overwhelming.

Ah, what the hell – he leapt and shifted mid-laughter. Quil followed with an amused yelp of his own, and then they were running, rushing past the grass and trees like forest spirits, and Jacob was howling, his voice raised in a wolf-song of relief and joy and laughter – and from across the forest, his brothers and sister dove into the pack-mind as they shifted to join him, and the voices of the pack rang out in wild, elemental brotherhood.

There was still some uneasiness. Some awkwardness. Most of them still couldn't understand how it had happened, and weren't sure what it meant for Jacob, or for themselves and the pack as a whole. But they accepted _him_ – and for now, that was all the wolf called Jacob needed.

His pack.

Later that night, when Quil, Embry, Leah and him were coming off patrol, Leah asked him to hang back a minute.

Embry looked at him, but Jake snorted, nodding for him to go on. With a shrug of furred shoulders, his wing-men padded off for home, the moonlight painting shadows and blackness over their bodies, camouflaging them as they vanished into the trees.

A little wary, Jake turned to Leah and cocked his head. _Yeah?_

Without answering, Leah shifted. It was unexpected; Jacob blinked his surprise but remembered to look away as the naked girl stood up from the ground.

"It's okay," she told him, wryly amused. "I don't think it matters if _you_ see me naked, Jake."

Jake whuffed through his nose. She had a point. But he didn't look anyway, and didn't shift to join her.

Leah waited a moment longer, but after a moment seemed to understand that she would be the only one with a voice for this discussion. "Right. Okay." She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, and Jacob lay down, resting his head on his paws and half-looking at her. _Get on with it._

She saw, and swallowed. "I wanted to apologise," she said quickly, and if he'd been human Jake's jaw would have dropped. "For what I said before, when you told us. And how I've been since." She chewed her lip. "I just really don't like imprinting, you know?" He did know, and he sobered, abruptly saddened. He was reluctant to think of Bella, but she came to mind anyway. She had been so badly hurt when Edward left… What would happen to her when Edward fell in love with _him?_ And it would happen. The imprinting process might create pain and distress for those it shut out – like Leah had been cut off from Sam – but no one had ever been able to resist the devotion of an imprinted wolf.

He didn't want to hurt Bella. But he could understand all too well why Sam had hurt Leah so badly. It hadn't been a choice – he'd had to.

Because of all of that, he sat up and nodded slowly in Leah's direction, so she would know he agreed and forgave her. It would be hard to blame her.

"My point still stands," Leah pointed out ruthlessly, suddenly. "The Cullens hit the road. What're you going to do?"

Jake knew what he was going to do, but he was suddenly very glad he'd decided to stay in wolf-form. There really was nothing to say. Nothing to say, and nothing he wanted to say to Leah.

He whuffed through his nose, got up, and padded away from her.

A few minutes later, he felt her shift to make her own way home, but the two of them kept their thoughts apart.

He knew what he would do. He had his plan. Kill Victoria, and go find Edward. Search all over the globe if that was what it took, because in the end, Jake would find him.

But God, if he thought about it too long – ! How it hurt! Like nothing he'd ever imagined could exist! It was like a deep, nauseating dread, as if he were walking a tightrope, about to slip and plunge into a dark chasm at any moment. Or maybe it was a huge anchor dangling just above his head, about to drop on him and crush his skull when he least expected it. Any number of horrible fates awaited him, it felt like – and none of them were as cold or cruel as knowing that he might never see Edward again.

It wasn't as if he'd known the vampire well. It wasn't as if he'd even known Edward was a real vampire! It was just stories, just old myths and legends that didn't mean anything. The last time he saw Edward, Jacob hadn't believed in vampires – or werewolves.

Now he was a werewolf _in love_ with a vampire. And he couldn't care for even a moment – if only Edward would come back.

It was an ache. Deep and low in his gut, a hollowness that ached to be filled, a puzzle-piece craving its brother. Yang force longing for yin. Without a distraction, Jacob was amazed he could even breathe; everything hurt, every cell missing the boy – the man – he'd never even known.

Yet.

_He'll come back_. He glanced out over the water as he passed the cliffs, automatically doing sweeps for red hair. Bella had warned them that vampires were excellent swimmers – something about the blond doctor swimming the channel, something about not needing to breathe – but he didn't see anything. _He has to come back_.

And if Edward didn't return? Well. Then Jacob would kill the red-headed leech and go find him.

He finally understood what Sam had said about imprinting making life simple. It really, really did.


	4. Chapter 3

_Run!_ Sam barked, and the pack scattered in twos and threes. _Don't let her get away!_

Jacob raced, Embry just a length behind him as they ran fast enough to blur. The scene replayed over and over in Jacob's mind – the red-haired leech leaping from the cliffs, diving into the steel-grey water shadowed by the early morning. Damn her, she _knew_ they would be at a disadvantage in the water, but _she_ could circle around anywhere!

Vampires were so _fast_…

_Where would she go? Wherewherewhere?_

The two of them followed the line of the cliffs, ears pricked and poised for the slightest sound, eyes trained on the water. Jake's heart was pounding. _So close. Today could be it. Once Victoria was dead…_

Embry yelped, and Jake turned away from the water in alarm, looking for whatever had prompted the sound.

He froze.

_Bella_.

He knew the girl was conflicted and in pain. First Edward had left her, and then Jake. Well, almost. How could he play best friends with his biggest rival? How could he be around her when his wolf snapped and snarled in his chest, chafing at the bonds of humanity? How could he spare the time for anyone else when his life centered around killing Victoria – killing the leech so he could leave to find his mate?

But he hadn't known Bella had felt bad enough to jump.

_No!_ He screamed silently as she plunged from the face of the cliff, _No, no, NO! _

_Yes,_ his wolf whispered, quietly pleased. His rival gone, destroyed, the path to Edward clear –

_NO!_ He wouldn't listen, couldn't listen, it wasn't Bella's fault, it wasn't, he was more than just the wolf, had to be, couldn't let Bella DIE –

_Jake!_

Without pausing to think or listen to Embry, Jake burst from the tree-cover and leapt from the ledge after her, shifting mid-fall. She would be smashed to pieces if she landed wrong, if she didn't cut into the water; everything that could go wrong flashed through his mind – hypothermia, broken bones, hell she could _drown_, sucked under by the currents that lashed and snarled like snares in the water here. A human wasn't strong enough to swim here safely!

He cut into the water like a diver just a few seconds after Bella's hair vanished into the ocean. The immediate _cold_ smashed into him, but as in his fantasies of Edward it felt good to his skin, his werewolf heat; shocked him breathless, but not enough to choke, not enough to open his mouth and try to breathe.

_Bella. Bella Bella Bella._ Where _was_ she?

The water distorted his vision and he was all too aware that Bella couldn't have much more air if she hadn't run out already. Panic beat wings in his chest, and he pulled himself through the water, kicking desperately, twisting around and round to try and find her. How many more minutes how many more seconds _oh God oh God_ –

_There!_

The moment he saw a darker space of water, he grabbed at it, and Bella's arm was swallowed by his hand as his fear was swallowed by relief. _Yes! _

He pulled her to him and kicked down hard, again and again, and it was almost a rush to feel how fast his body propelled them both through the water. The wolf's power going to save his rival, but he didn't care about that now; he burst out of the water with a gasp, trying to raise Bella up, get her head above water, make her _breathe_. He barely noticed that Embry had called the others, that Sam and Jared were both on the shore, that Sam was on the phone.

It didn't matter. He just needed Bella to _breathe_, and his heart was pounding as he get her up on the sand.

"Come on, come on," he growled, placing his hands on her chest, trying desperately to pump her lungs. "Come on!"

His heart leapt when she suddenly gasped, her eyes snapping open.

"What were you thinking?" He demanded as she turned on her side and started coughing up seawater. "You could have died!"

"You guys...do it all the time," she protested hoarsely, and he growled at her in frustration.

"Next time, wait for me!" He snapped, gathering her up in his arms. "Urgh." He hugged her tightly, and felt sick to his stomach at the weak flutter of her arm trying to return the embrace. "I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered.

And he was. Bella might have been his biggest, his _only_ rival, but… But Edward wasn't here. Bella knew how much it hurt, and she was a good friend, one he didn't want to give up until he had to. He hoped he'd never have to, but he wasn't sure how things would work out when Edward came back.

Because even for Bella, Jacob could not give up Edward.

"Jake, let Jared have a look at her," Sam ordered quietly.

Reluctantly, Jacob released her and stood up. Jared was one of the few wolves who knew CPR; the rest of them didn't see much point, when they were all but immortal now.

But the moment Jacob stepped away, he pressed a hand to his face as nauseous regret opened like deadly nightshade in his chest.

_Why didn't I let her die?_ He'd wanted to. Oh God, the desire to ignore her jump, to let her be killed, to clear the path to Edward without getting blood on his hands – it had been so strong. Part of him – a large part – regretted what he'd just done, enormously.

_What kind of monster am I? _

Edward had spent his entire life fighting not to be a monster. It was the reason behind his golden eyes, probably the only reason a Quileute wolf could ever imprint on a vampire. What would Edward think of him for these thoughts?

He looked up, startled when he felt Sam's hand on his shoulder.

"You did something amazing today," Sam said quietly, low enough to prevent Bella's human ears from overhearing. "And you shouldn't beat yourself up about it."

Jake looked away, his stomach twisting into painful knots.

"I wanted her to die," he admitted finally, when the silence stretched too long. "My wolf… She… Edward…" His hands fisted helplessly. "I want to…go over there and break her neck, right now. I can't stand it – _Her_. She's my friend, my best friend, and I love her, but…"

Sam's dark eyes were full of understanding. "But she's in the way," he said softly.

Jake nodded jerkily.

The alpha sighed. "You shouldn't beat yourself up over it," he repeated, tightening his hold on Jake's shoulder to make him listen. Make him _hear_. "You can't help feeling that way. What's important – what's amazing – is that you didn't listen. Jake, you saved the life of the rival for your imprint's love. You are…" He shook his head, wordless. "You're something else."

It didn't make Jake feel much better. He was already a freak among the pack for imprinting on a vampire. No one said it, everyone tried not to think it. They accepted him. They loved him as a brother. But they couldn't accept what he'd done. What he'd had no choice in doing.

Sam seemed to know what he was thinking even in human form.

"They'll know what you did," he said quietly. "And you can bet every one of them will respect you for it. They've all felt the strength of your feelings, they know what it cost you."

"Yeah," Jake muttered. But wouldn't they be disgusted that that price was so high? So painful to pay?

"She's good to go," Jared called over to them, and both wolves turned. "Should be fine. Just needs some warm clothes and stuff."

Sam glanced at Jake. "Should I take her home?"

Jacob hesitated. "No," he said finally. "No, I'll do it." _I have to prove I'm not a monster. _

He couldn't be a monster. Couldn't be a killer. Not when Edward – not when Edward fought every second not to be.

The look on Sam's face said he understood everything. "Fine. The rest of us will keep looking for Victoria – meet us back at the rez once Bella's settled."

Jake nodded, already eager to get back to the hunt. If they'd lost the damn leech again…

He walked over to Bella and scooped her up; she was as light as a soaking wet, shivering kitten.

_Vulnerable. Delicate. Fragile_. It would be so easy to move his hand and snap…

He took a deep breath. _No._

"J-Jake?" Bella's teeth clattered, and she pressed closer to him; he wondered if his body heat would dry her clothes before they got home. "Y-you o-o-okay?"

Instinctively, Jacob growled at her for asking such a stupid question. "It's _you_ we need to worry about," he chastised.

Her weak smile made it easier to ignore the wolf.

Charlie had already left for Harry Clearwater's funeral when Jacob carefully carried Bella to the door, ignoring her weak protests. Both of them were glad of that – he didn't need to see this. She was even paler than usual, and weak even for a human. Cold. She was so cold, and he held her tighter, willing his body-heat to warm her as she directed him to the hidden key and he got them inside.

"Can you stand?" He asked her, frowning.

"Yes," she insisted. "Put me down, Jake."

He held on to her – she wobbled a little, but after a second or two she seemed okay on her feet. She looked up at him proudly, and he rolled his eyes; as if standing up was _meant_ to be a big accomplishment.

"Go upstairs," he ordered. "Have a shower, put some dry clothes on. I'll get you some food." His eyes narrowed. "And this is it, Bella. I mean it. No more of these stupid stunts. What if I hadn't been there today?"

He could so easily have been somewhere else. The leech Bella called Victoria had gone into the water, but there were so many other places she could have doubled back. It was pure chance that Jake had seen Bella go over...

"Bossy," she grumbled, but headed upstairs anyway. He noticed that she held the banister on the stairs tightly for balance, and he sighed.

He was used to making simple meals for him and his dad, and by now he knew where most of the stuff in Bella's kitchen was. He started making hot chocolate, and then found a can of thick soup that he thought would be good for someone who'd nearly drowned. Soup and chocolate might not go well together, though...

He stared at the can in his hands, frowning, and turned when the phone rang.

Who could that be? Charlie and all his friends were at the funeral...

He picked up the phone, the receiver almost swallowed up by his hand. "Hello?"

There was a pause, and Jake wondered if it was a prank call before a smooth, melodic voice answered him. One that made his heart stop and his breathing catch.

"Hello, my name is Carlisle Cullen? I'm calling to talk to Mr. Swan. Is he available?"

He had only heard that voice once. A handful of words calling Bella away outside the Forks High prom. But he knew it right down to his bones; it curled bright and soft and golden through his blood, his gut. The deception might have fooled Bella, but this particular voice couldn't have hid from his werewolf ears in a thousand thousand years.

"Edward?" He whispered.

Another pause. "Who is this?" The vampire asked more harshly, abandoning the deception.

Jacob's stomach clenched hard, tight and painful. _He doesn't remember me_. It felt like the bottom of his world dropping out from under him. _He doesn't remember me!_

_Well, why should he?_ Jake told himself ruthlessly. Edward had met him for all of two seconds. _Once he has a chance to know you.._.Once Jacob had a chance to show Edward how happy an imprinted werewolf could make him, then Edward would remember him. Remember and know him forever.

He closed his eyes and viciously clamped down on the pain welling up, the animal inside him howling with grief and pain. _Shut up!_

"Jacob Black," he whispered.

He could almost feel Edward's confusion, but it wasn't enough to distract the vampire. "Jacob, where is Charlie?"

"He's at the funeral," Jacob explained automatically. _Give him what he needs_. Jacob could no more lie to Edward than he could cut off his right arm. Actually, he could probably disable himself more easily. "Why?"

But the vampire didn't answer; Jacob heard a choked sob that wrenched his heart and chilled him a moment before the phone went dead.

Confused, he pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it. What had that been about?

"Jacob? Who was that?"

He turned. Bella was at the bottom of the stairs, toweling her hair dry and looking at him expectantly. What was he supposed to say?

He opened his mouth – without any idea of what planned to come out – when they both heard the low rumble of a first-class car engine, one that Jacob automatically classified and identified as belonging to no car in Forks.

There were no words for the explosion of hope and light and warmth that surged through him; wild excitement burned and he raced for the door, forgetting Bella in an instant. _He's here he's here!_ The wolf in him crowed, thrilled beyond belief; before he ever reached the door he could smell vampire, sweet and heady as a drug -

But when he threw open the door...

Disappointment. Disappointment, and aborted joy, and pain so intense that it sent him to his knees.

"Jake!" Bella cried.

"You," Alice whispered.

Jacob couldn't hear either of them. He clutched his head, gasping for breath; his body shook as crashing waves of pain and longing and agony threatened to drown him just as surely as the La Push currents would have drowned Bella.

_He's not here_, the wolf moaned.

He had never felt the pain this strongly before. He had always been able to throw himself into a distraction – helped by the fact that he _knew_ he couldn't reach Edward yet. Who knew where the vampire was? And Jacob had his responsibilities to his pack, to his people.

But he had completely and truly believed that Edward would be standing on the doorstep...

"Alice?" As if from far away, he felt the faint vibrations in the floor as Bella moved into the front room and saw the wrong vampire for the first time. "Oh my God. Alice!"

She ran forward, but Alice made a dismissive gesture without even looking at her and knelt down beside Jacob, light and delicate as a fairy.

"Sssh," she crooned, her voice light and ringing like golden bells as her small, cool hands stroked his face. "It's alright, it's alright..."

_No, it's not_, the wolf cried. _Edward, Edward isn't here!_

But her hands were as cool as Edward's would be, and she almost smelled like him, and gradually he stopped shaking, stilling as she soothed him, whispering soft nothings over and over. It didn't matter what she said, and they both knew it – it was only so that he could hear a voice almost as sweet as the one he craved, and trick himself into forgetting the pain for a while longer.

Eventually, he managed to open his eyes.

Bella had told him about all of the Cullens. A part of him had had no trouble identifying the small pixie girl as Alice, the girl with the visions of the future. Her short black hair was wild but soft-looking, fine as silk, and her eyes were a rich, beautiful gold.

_But she's not the one we want..._

Ruthlessly, Jacob forced the wolf down, and took a deep, shuddering breath. The scent of vampire – one that had been as harsh and cruel to his nose as bleach only a few months ago – went deep into his lungs, sweet and almost perfect. Interesting. The traces he caught of Victoria hunting with the pack still burned him – but, he supposed, Alice and Edward had been sired by the same vampire. Now that Edward smelled so wonderful to him, it made sense that Alice's scent wouldn't be so distasteful to him anymore...

"Alice? Jake?" Bella said behind them. "What's going on?"

Alice ignored her. "Jake?" She said softly, urging him to look at her again when his eyes closed. "Is that your name? Jake, look at me! We don't have time for this," she added urgently, coaxingly.

Jacob forced himself to look up at her again. "What?" He winced; his voice was hoarse as if he'd screamed.

"Alice?" He could hear the dawning fear in Bella's voice – and confusion. Some part of him thought how weird this scene must look to her, and how strange that Alice were talking to him instead of Bella.

But he didn't have the strength to care.

"You have to come with me," Alice said urgently, ignoring Bella to stare desperately into Jacob's face. "Now. Please. I can't explain right now, there's no time – but it's for Edward."

Instantly the pain dissolved, smoke blown away and scattered by the cool, decisive wind of _purpose_. Jacob was on his feet before he could think. A hundred thousand steel cables, holding him to earth – and now they were all pulling at him to leave, to _run_, hard and fast to wherever Edward was, to give the vampire whatever it was in the world that he wanted, needed - "Of course," he said calmly, accepting her words without question.

It was for Edward. Nothing else mattered – that was all he needed to know.

"_Alice!_ " Bella screamed. "_What_? _What is happening to Edward?_ "

Jacob whirled, surprised – he had completely forgotten the girl existed, but with the wolf clamoring to be away, to _go_, sure and certain of his purpose for the first time in months _ (maybe ever, maybe for the first time in his life he knows what he's doing)_ Bella's desperate panic couldn't touch him. He looked at her as if she were a scientific specimen and couldn't empathise with the fear he saw in her eyes. There was a layer of cool numbness around him, separating him from the rest of the world. It was like being underwater – sounds, sights, smells; they all seemed muffled. Far away.

He was being pulled, tugged, away from it all.

Behind him, Alice snarled – and then she was past him, right up in Bella's face, and Jacob didn't know her, wouldn't even have known her face without Bella's descriptions, but he was surprised to see how fury transformed that beautiful pixie face.

"_You_ happened," Alice hissed. "_You_. I trusted you! I loved you like a sister! I was so looking forward to you becoming one of us, but now – you _jumped_, Bella! You jumped off the cliff and I saw it! What did you think he would do when he learned about that?" She reached up on tip-toe, and in any other situation it might have been funny. "_He thinks you're dead_, and now he's going to the Volturi, and I swear to you, Bella, if we don't get there in time – if – if he dies - "

There was horror in Bella's face, dark and black and growing teeth and claws to rip her apart. Jacob could see it happening even as he watched but he didn't care, he _didn't care_ because it was dawning on him, too – he didn't know what the Volturi were, but Alice's words rang in his head like funeral bells -

_if he dies if he dies if he dies -_

"Then I will kill you myself," Alice hissed.

_No_, Jacob thought. His mind was, for that one moment, cold and clear and as sharp as a diamond. _No, because I'll kill her first._

* * *

Alice had not come in a car. She had been staying in Denali, visiting another coven, and had run here the moment she had seen Bella jump. She had only paused – stupid, stupid! - to call her mate and tell him why she wasn't returning as planned.

"Jasper told the others," Alice explained as they ran. Jacob couldn't answer, he had shifted into his wolf to be able to keep up with her blurring speed, but he nodded once to show he was following. "Rosalie – Rosalie called Edward before I reached Forks."

_Rosalie_. Rosalie was another person who would die if Edward...

No. He refused to let himself think it, and with the simplicity of his wolf mind he shut the thought down and _didn't think it_.

The moment he had shifted, everyone else in wolf-form had known everything. Jared and Leah and Quil had all still been in wolf-form, and as he ran he had felt them vanish one by one as they shifted back to tell the rest of the pack what was happening – where and why Jacob was leaving them.

Jacob wasn't worried. There wasn't _room_ in him for worry. Sam would take care of the pack and hunt Victoria and keep everyone safe.

Every thump of his paws hitting the ground sounded like _Edward, Edward, Edward_. It was in his heartbeat and the rush of his lungs.

It was in the musical shrillness of Alice's mobile phone. After the fourth time - "Bella," Alice told him with angry disappointment after glancing at the caller ID – she stopped checking the number and left the phone in her pocket.

Running, running, running. They were faster than any car Jake had ever heard of – no one could run as fast as Jacob, but Alice was sure trying.

_If he dies if he dies if he dies –_

There was a sound behind them, a rustle in the trees, and Jacob couldn't bear to stop – wouldn't, couldn't, Edward Edward _Edward_, he still had no idea what was dangerous about Italy but that didn't matter, only that he got to his mate in time and kept him safe, safesafesafe _never let him out of our sight again, MINE, he has to stay with us where it's safe, make sure no one can ever hurt him, nonono_ – but Alice gave a startled cry, and at that he spun around with his hackles raised and teeth bared.

There was no _time_ for delays!

But his hackles and lips dropped as he recognised Seth. The boy was lighter than his sister as a wolf, blond and easy to pick out among the pack, and though he looked nervous, he was carrying a satchel in his mouth.

It looked like the one Jake had once used for school.

_Seth?_ He asked, wary as Alice glanced back and forth between them desperately. She had cried out with shock when she saw Jacob shift, her eyes wide and round with surprise – and awe. She thought he was beautiful, he could see it in her face, but it had amused him to surprise a Seer. Now though, she looked harried, desperate to be away. _What is it? I don't have time!_

Seth shook his head. _Sam sent me. Here_. He padded over and dropped the back at Jacob's paws. _You're heading to Italy, right? You're gonna need your passport, man. _

Jacob's eyes widened, and adrenalin smashed through his veins in another pounding wave, pouring sick and cold into his stomach. _Oh God…_ What if Seth hadn't come? What if Jacob hadn't been able to get on the plane?

He wouldn't have been able to get to Edward.

He didn't need to say anything. His relief and gratitude – enough to have brought him to tears if he'd been human – were so great they spilled across the blurry line of his mind and into Seth, and Jacob bowed his head to grasp the bag tightly between his teeth.

"I can take that," Alice offered quietly.

Jacob gave it up to her, his heart pounding. She could carry it far more easily than he could. She slung it across her shoulder without question, her face drawn tight.

He turned back to Seth, already backing away. _I gotta go,_ he whispered. _Thank you. Thank you so much. God. Tell Sam…_

Even as a wolf, he could see Seth's smile. _It's okay. Just…go get him, yeah?_

Jacob didn't need any more encouragement; he turned and sprinted away, and before he'd even taken one step Alice was behind him.

* * *

"Jacob Black," Alice read out from his passport. "I wondered what Jake was short for."

Jacob struggled to find the words to answer her. Their flight would begin boarding in another half hour. It was the first flight to Italy, to Rome, and Jacob could only feel tense as a drum as they lingered in the uncomfortable plastic chairs of the waiting area, fingering the sleeve of the clothes Sam had sent with his passport.

It was so, so lucky that Alice was here. He could never have paid for a ticket himself.

Hell, he'd never even have known Edward was in danger…

"I'm sorry," Alice apologised after a minute had passed. "I'm used to being able to see. Not being able to frightens me. I babble when I'm frightened."

"It's okay," Jake managed, his voice hoarse.

Silence.

"My mom picked my name," he muttered. "She's the reason I have a passport – was the reason. She's dead now." He didn't glance at Alice's expression of sympathy. "She wanted us all to be able to travel… We booked this big holiday, but then she… They diagnosed her with cancer and we couldn't go."

"I'm sorry."

Jake shook his head viciously. "It doesn't matter," he said roughly. "But I don't want to gossip about nothing. I want to know about Edward." He tried to keep his voice from breaking with the fear coiled tight and cold in his gut. "Is he. In danger?"

Alice stared intently into his face, and sensing on some level that she was seeking confirmation of his feelings Jake didn't try to hide the desperation scrawled across his features. Desperation, fear, and the need for Edward to be okay. The need to be _doing_ something, to help him, protect him!

"You really care about him," Alice whispered.

"Yes," Jacob answered instantly, passionately. "God, yes. Yes yes _yes._" It had always been so hard to talk to any of the pack about this, even Sam. Jacob loved Edward with all of his heart, but he was all too aware of the fact that Edward was both male and a vampire. All too aware of how uncomfortable the topic made the other wolves. It wasn't something he could shout from the rooftops. But Alice – those gold eyes looked at him and already knew. She understood it all.

She loved Edward too. Not in the same way, but – Edward was her brother.

Jacob hid his head in his hands. His shoulders shook – not with tears, but with tension and restraint. He wanted to get up and run, push past the security guards and hijack the plane, fly to Italy himself. Not being able to was like dying.

"He's everything," he whispered, and he could hear the passion in his own voice. A few months ago it would have made him cringe and gag; now he couldn't imagine anything different. "_Everything_. I'd die for him."

"You might have to," Alice said hesitantly. Jacob looked up at her and he didn't feel one drop of fear. Not for himself. That _purpose_ – cool, clear, sharp – that had taken him over once Alice gave him a path to follow, a choice to make, was wrapped around him like a shield, like armour.

He saw her see it and take it in.

"If that's what he needs, I'll do it," he swore softly.

Alice stared at him. And then she nodded slowly. "Yes, you will, won't you?" She said, almost to herself. "All right." She stood up, so light and graceful she made even a simple movement like that seem like dancing. "I need to call my family, and then I'll tell you everything."

He almost growled at her; the words caught between his teeth, demanding to know _now_, but he just barely leashed himself. They would be on the plane for hours. There was time. No matter how desperate he was, he couldn't push time forward and he knew he would bear the flight much better if Alice was talking to him the whole time.

He nodded. She skipped lightly away, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

_Edward._ Jake buried his head in his hands again, fighting to breathe. _Edward, I'm coming._

* * *

"Tell me everything," Jake commanded the moment they fastened their seatbelts.

Not one flicker of annoyance crossed Alice's face. Instead, she obeyed.

"Volterra, one of the Italian cities, is the home of the Volturi. They are the law keepers of my kind – they ensure that the vampires of the world keep their existence hidden from humans. If any vampire breaks that law, the Volturi come and kill that vampire, destroy every trace of evidence that they ever existed. They are powerful, the strongest coven in existence – their leaders, Aro, Caius, and Marcus offer placements in their guard for any vampire they come across with gifts they desire." Alice glanced at Jake. "Most accept. Vampires have no royal family, but the Volturi might as well be our monarchs. To join them is to have power, prestige, and protection. No one stands against the Volturi."

Jacob should have been thinking _Sam would want to hear all this._ All that was going through his mind was _what does Edward want with them?_

"It's so hard to kill one of us," Alice continued, her voice dropping almost to a whisper. "We are almost indestructible. For most of us, that's a – a gift, a wonderful thing. But sometimes a vampire tires of his existence and wants to die." She closed her eyes, briefly hiding her face behind her hand as if to hide tears. "If he has no other vampire who will help him, then… He goes to the Volturi."

"_What?_" Jake stared at her in horror. "Edward _wants_ to die? Why? Why would he do that? No!" He yelled, unable to stop himself; his body shook, ripped and tore inside with the beginning of his change. "No, no!"

"Jacob!" Alice hissed, glancing around them at the other passengers. "Please! You have to be quiet!"

"No," he moaned, clutching at his hair, unable to hear her. "No, no, he can't, he can't do that, please…" He bowed over his knees, sick with the fear and the horror and the _pain_, the pain like ice and knives clawing at his insides, tearing him apart, cutting him hollow, because no, no no _no_, without Edward… Without Edward… Edward couldn't die, they were both immortal, they were supposed to be together forever… "Please, God, no, no, he can't, he _can't!_"

"Jacob!" Alice's scent assailed him in the crowded space; she pulled his head up, forcing him to look at her. "Jake, please, you have to be quiet, calm, you can't change in here…"

But Jacob's mind was already working, cogs and gears turning rapidly as he sought to make sense of the single greatest piece of illogic he had ever known.

"It's because of Bella, isn't it?" He hissed, fury abruptly overcoming panic. It was always so easy to become angry, ever since his wolf had woken up inside him. "He thinks she's dead."

Unhappily, Alice nodded.

Jacob grit his teeth to bite back the howl of anger and hatred; even so his head fell back against his chair, facing the ceiling; his throat rippled to keep it in.

The phone call. _The phone call._

_I should have let her die,_ he thought viciously.

"Calm down, Jacob," Alice said harshly. "We need to plan. I need to watch Edward's future and I can't do that if I have to watch _you_."

Jake's attention snapped to her. _Seer_. She could see the future. "Edward's future?"

"Yes." She watched him warily, obviously ready to restrain him if he looked about to snap again. "At the moment, he is on a plane, like us. He was in South America when Rosalie called him. It will take him some time to get to Italy too."

Jacob's heart stuttered. "Will we get there before him?"

But she shook her head. "His flight left two hours ago," she said softly. Theirs was still on the runway.

Pain and panic twisted in his gut and across his face. "He can't die," Jake whispered. The plane beneath him rumbled as it raced faster and faster on the runway.

Alice bit her lip. "I don't know," she murmured, and Jake's vision focused on her like lasers. "I…I saw him dying, before, when I was running to Bella's house. But," she added hastily, seeing Jake's face draw tight and pale, "but I don't now." Her eyes glazed slightly, and she cocked her head; it took him a moment or two to understand that she was _seeing_.

"Now I don't," she repeated, still staring into a distance he couldn't see. "I see him going to the Volturi. I see him asking them, but then everything goes hazy."

The ground dropped away beneath them. Jacob's stomach dropped with it.

"What does that mean?" His voice was even hoarser than before, he noticed absently.

Alice's eyes cleared, and she straightened. "It means that where everything was certain hours ago, bringing you changes things."

Hope, weak as a newborn bird or a newly hatched butterfly, fluttered inside him.

"What can I do?" Jacob asked, urgent. _Anything. Anything I can do to help him, to stop him, I will do._

Thoughts of his own safety didn't even cross his mind. It wasn't relevant. He didn't wonder about the traditional hatred between vampires and wolves; didn't consider how the Volturi would react to a werewolf in their city.

Edward was there. Edward needed Jacob to save him from himself. That was all.

Imprinting simplified everything.

Alice frowned. "I don't know exactly," she admitted. "I wasn't with Carlisle when they ran into the Quileute wolves before. Why don't you tell me what you can do? What you are?"

It was something to do. A distraction from the cold lead in his stomach.

He told her.

Maybe he shouldn't have. Vampires – leeches – were the enemy, and he was giving her secrets the werewolves had always kept hidden. Their strength. Their speed. The pack-mind. There were no limitations to shifting, where or when, but their clothes didn't change with them. Their claws and teeth, their sense of smell, their superhuman healing powers. Even their imprinting. How much of it translated over into their human form.

"That's good," Alice said warmly. "Very good. You can't be a giant wolf running through Volterra, but… Could you smell him through a crowd? Find him?"

"Yes." Without question.

She nodded slowly, obviously thoughtful; Jake waited to see what she would come up with. He wasn't an idiot, but he knew she was smarter than him. He'd never been one of the really smart kids – not smart enough that he could trust himself forming the plan to save the one thing that mattered to him.

"Then this is what we'll do," she decided. "I won't be able to find him. I can't be out in daylight." Jacob nodded; he had seen how Victoria's skin shone and sparkled when she ran beneath a beam of sunlight falling through the canopy of trees. "And he knows that if any of our family came to him, we'd be screaming 'Bella is alive!' even if it wasn't true, just to stop him. He wouldn't listen."

She met Jacob's eyes. "But you…" She murmured. "You have no reason to lie. That he knows about," she corrected herself before Jake could. Because he would lie – would do whatever it took to keep Edward safe. "And you're strong enough to stop him from doing anything stupid.

"You can save him, Jacob."

Her words… They were like a blow. They knocked him breathless, senseless, with a feeling like dawn rising glowing softly inside him.

_You can save him._

You. Not Bella, or Alice. Not another vampire or a human girl, things he couldn't be for Edward no matter how he tried. Him. Jacob. He could save his mate _because_ of what he was, not in spite of it.

It meant…a lot.

He looked away, remembering to breathe. Outside the window, the ground was a green and brown blur far below them, half-covered with clouds as the plane rose higher.

"Why do you like me?" He asked suddenly. "Don't get me wrong, you've no idea how happy I am that you do – how grateful –" He stopped, unsure of how to say what he meant so that it sounded real. "But I thought you all liked Bella for Edward," he finished quickly, past the tightness in his throat.

_Alice's face when she saw him open the door. "You."_

"_You can save him."_

Alice was silent for so long that Jacob had half-convinced himself that she wasn't going to answer by the time she did.

"I didn't have a preference before," she said slowly. "When I first saw you with Edward." Jake's ears pricked at that; when had that been? "There was only one vision with you in it and Edward was happy, but Bella made him happy too. Either way, my brother would be with someone he loved, and that was all that mattered to any of us."

She paused, and tapped her fingertips against the arm of her chair. "But when Bella jumped… I was so angry. So distraught. I didn't think; I shouldn't have told Jasper what had happened. If I hadn't, Rosalie wouldn't know, and Edward…"

"It's not your fault," Jacob said softly. And it wasn't. Even his most primal instincts didn't hold a speck of blame for Alice. She'd seen her brother's lover commit suicide – or she thought she had. Why wouldn't she have been upset enough to forget the possible consequences of her actions?

She smiled weakly at him. "Thanks." She was silent another moment. "I thought of how unfair it was, what a selfish thing to do. Didn't she know how much it would hurt Edward to hear she'd died like that? Or her parents? Her friends? Us, even? Carlisle and Esme were devastated to hear that Bella was dead. If she had never met our family, it would never have happened." She shrugged. "They know now, of course. I told them that Bella had survived." She frowned. "I still don't understand how I didn't see you pull her out of the water. Why I've _never_ been able to see you."

"Never?"

"Well, one vision." She held up one delicate finger at him. "Just one. It was a very clear vision, one of the almost-definite ones. It didn't change, even when Edward left. Then with no warning, you vanished from my sight. Completely." She smiled wryly. "Which meant that Edward did too. If I hadn't known what it looked like to my foresight when someone dies, I would have panicked when he disappeared."

Jacob frowned. Resting his head on his hand, he stared at the window, seeing nothing, vision turned inward. "When did I vanish?"

Unhesitatingly, she named a date forever etched into his memory.

He nodded to himself. "That was the day I changed," he told her. "Guess you can't see werewolves for some reason."

He could almost hear her pout, obviously unhappy with that fact. Under different circumstances, it would have made him grin. He was sure that Sam would be happy about it.

"So…the vanishing," he said quickly, before she could ask or say anything. "It's not…neither of us die? In the future?"

"No. When someone I know dies…I see it, see how it happens. No one just disappears like that." She was quiet for a while, and Jake was half-content to let the silence linger. He didn't bother with the in-flight movie or magazines. He wouldn't be able to concentrate, and trying to force himself would only antagonise the wolf.

He didn't know how much time passed before she spoke again. Jake was lost in the thoughts of Bella, Rosalie, the Volturi – what were they like, really? His mind conjured a coven dark and cruel with power, but was that an accurate assumption? – and Edward. His mind kept skipping over that thought like a broken record, a scratched disk, because it was just. So. Painful. Each time it pushed itself to the forefront of his mind he felt the agony all over again, no less for all that he had faced it a hundred times before in the last twenty minutes.

Edward wanted to die. Wanted to _die_. It was enough to make his heart break as he was forced to acknowledge the pain his mate was in. It wasn't that the pain was there because of Bella. Oh, that hurt – that hurt so much. To know how deeply Edward loved someone else… That was torture.

But Jacob would sell his soul to have Edward alive and happy – and in love with Bella, if that was his choice – rather than dead.

Rather than Edward alive and in this much agony.

_He should be with me,_ Jacob thought, half-watching the clouds pass them by, wispy and soft beneath the plane. _I would never hurt him like that. Never ever._ He closed his eyes. _I would keep him safe, and make him laugh, and make his every day and night a treasure. _

"You never answered my question."

"Pardon?"

Oh. That was his voice, wasn't it? Jake leaned his forehead against the cool windowpane. Not glass – surely it was double-paned plastic? To protect them all from the air pressure, or something…

"Why you like me. You didn't say why you liked me."

"Oh, that." Alice shifted in her chair; he could hear the soft rustle of fabric, and he wondered why she bothered. He already knew she was a vampire. Were the little fidgets to put the other passengers at ease? Probably.

"Well, you're a werewolf," Alice began, her voice low and soft to keep their conversation private. "I didn't know that before – maybe that's why I can't see you?" She mused. "Anyway," she continued, keeping herself on track, "my family… We don't hate wolves. Not as a general rule. That's why Carlisle was able to negotiate a treaty with your ancestors – because he wasn't interested in destroying you the way other covens might have done."

"Tried to do," Jacob corrected.

She laughed. It was – the word that came to mind was _delightful_. Light and golden, like bells. "The way other covens might have _tried _to," she conceded. "And… Well, I can't help thinking that a werewolf is a better mate for one of us than a human is." He could feel her eyes on his back, but he didn't turn to face her. "You won't torture him with the smell of your blood. You're strong enough that he won't have to be constantly in control – which is wearing and stressful, even for vegetarians like us who get plenty of practice. It would be good for him to let loose sometimes – and to be protected when he needs it. From outside threats and from himself. You're fast enough to keep up with him when he runs. You don't have to change – and risk dying – to be with him. Maybe it sounds strange to you, but little things like that matter." She paused.

"And big things," she murmured. "Like the fact that you would never hurt him. Not even accidentally."

A little bit of the tension eased from Jake's shoulders and the knots in his gut, and he sighed. It was good to hear that. To know that Edward's family – or one member of it, at least – supported him, approved of him. It was good to hear that he was perfect for, meant for, his imprinted.

Because if that was true, then he could do this.

* * *

It was a thirteen hour flight.

Alice insisted he get some sleep – "We'll need to run some of the way to Volterra," she pointed out – but it wasn't enough to convince the tangled skein of emotions inside him to settle and let his eyes close. Alice, he learned, didn't need sleep – no vampire did.

He hadn't known that. It saddened him – saddened him that he could never watch Edward sleep, could never stand loving guard, protecting his mate at his most vulnerable.

Was Edward ever vulnerable? Did he ever let himself be taken care of? What would it mean for their relationship if he didn't? Jacob had learned that, contrary to the vague stereotypes which were all he knew of gay men, homosexuals weren't typically butch or effeminate but as varied and unique as any other kind of people. But there did appear to be some similarities between a gay relationship and a straight one – there was generally one partner who played a more submissive role and one who played the more dominant one, as there were between traditional husbands and wives – though he'd been surprised to see that who took what role didn't necessarily equate to who 'topped' or 'bottomed' in sex.

It was all very confusing.

But what Jacob _was_ sure of was his own desire to protect. To defend. To stand between Edward and the rest of the world and shield his mate from anything and anyone that would ever try to hurt him.

Did that make him the dominant partner, or the submissive one?

Jacob's thoughts went around and around in endless circles. There was no way to resolve the question until he knew what Edward wanted.

* * *

"How did Edward become a vampire?" Jacob asked quietly, maybe six hours since they'd left the ground.

The rest of the plane was asleep – except hopefully the pilots – with the lights turned down low or off completely, most of the passengers tucked in under their complimentary blankets. Jake hadn't been able to eat a bite of the beef sirloin that Alice had also left untouched – though Jake's problem was the tension in his stomach, not a body that could only take sustenance from blood.

Alice didn't seem surprised by the question, and she answered as easily as if Jake had asked what her brother's favorite colour was. "He was Edward Anthony Masen then," she said softly. "Both his parents died in the Spanish Influenza epidemic in, oh, 1918. He was just seventeen."

So old! Jacob felt very, very young as he calculated how old Edward must be now.

"Then Edward fell ill," Alice continued, "And Carlisle found him. He was working night shifts in the hospital at the time, trying to help as many people as possible." Alice shrugged her pixie shoulders. "He thought Edward's death would be a waste, and he was so lonely…" She trailed off.

Jacob didn't ask questions; instead, he turned the information over and over in his mind.

In the end, knowing that Edward would need him at his full strength allowed rest to come.

He didn't dream. He was grateful for that. If he had… He couldn't even imagine the nightmares that would have torn his heart apart. He was having trouble not picturing his mate dead and still as it was, each flicker of the image making his insides twist and ache.

* * *

His eyes snapped open the moment the plane touched down on the ground.

Now that they were in Italy, Jacob's restlessness reached new levels. He burned to be gone, to be running, to feel his muscles stretch and move beneath his skin, to feel the distance between him and his mate dissolve piece by piece. Finally he and Alice left the plane, and with no luggage to wait for or reason to linger in the terminal they were able to leave quickly. But there was no where for him to change, and Alice was forced to hire a car from the local rental service – speaking fluent Italian all the while; somehow Jake wasn't at all surprised – and drive them out of the city before they could really get moving.

Alice didn't chastise him for clawing great strips out of the passenger seat in his urgency to be _moving_. He thought she probably felt the same.

Finally, just as Jake was sure he was going to explode, they hit farmland. Jacob didn't wait for the car to stop; he threw open the door and rolled, and only the knowledge that he would need his clothes at Volterra stopped him from shifting straight away. But his body was shaking, so hard and vicious that his fingers fumbled with the zipper of his jeans and the hem of his shirt.

"Here, let me…" Alice murmured, at his side at once, her small cool hands darting like birds to pull, unfasten, and tug with deft fingers. Jacob was so grateful, so grateful, and his body fell into his wolf-form like rain into the ocean as the little vampire-girl scooped up his clothes and shoved them into his satchel.

"Follow me," Alice told him. "And I'm sorry, but we can't run at full speed. You'll collapse before Volterra if we do."

Jacob growled at her, torn between conflicting instincts – the urge, no, the _need_ to be at Edward's side, and the knowledge that her advice was good and logical and sensible and he should listen to it.

She bared her teeth right back and he submitted, muttering to himself in wolf.

He felt better once they were moving. Unlike being on the plane, running was _doing_ something – a physical action that brought him closer and closer to his objective, with results he could see as they passed signs for Volterra with the miles printed neat and white on the boards.

_Volterra: 133 miles…_

_Volterra: 100 miles…_

_Volterra: 50 miles…_

Jake learned later that going by car from Rome to Volterra – following the roads at 40 mph – took almost three and a half hours.

Alice and Jacob did it in two.

That was not Jacob's top speed, and he suspected that it wasn't Alice's either. But Jacob needed to pace himself.

"_The Volturi refused his request," Alice had said as they passed a small town whose name Jake didn't care to catch. Since she didn't need to breathe, it was easy for her to talk and run so fast at the same time. "They see his gift as too precious to destroy. He's going to make a scene, instead. If he reveals himself, they won't have any choice but to kill him."_

"You have to eat," Alice insisted now, drawing them to a stop just outside the city. "Jake, we can't run through Volterra. I'll light up like a diamond, and you! You think no one will notice you?" She frowned, but he could see the tense lines in her face. "Come on. Change back. You'll eat, and then we'll look for Edward."

Jacob hesitated. But she had a point – there was no way for him to reach Edward in wolf-form, not when he would certainly cause a panic among Volterra's citizens and be stopped. There was a sick lump in his throat, but he obeyed, shifted back and reached for his clothes.

She turned her back on him to give him some privacy.

He didn't bother with all of it – it was hot enough that he could get away with just shorts and a pair of sandals. If she frowned when she turned around and saw his horrible fashion statement, well, she could live with it. Jacob didn't give a rat's ass about what he looked like, only that they got to Edward on time.

He ate because Alice forced him to and because without her, he had no idea where they were going. It would be quicker and easier to let her visions guide him than to try and track one vampire's scent in a city ruled by them.

Halfway through his third hamburger, Alice nodded to herself. "He's decided to do it with sunlight," she said quietly. "He'll step outside of an arch… At the center of the city…" From somewhere she produced a biro, started sketching a rough outline on a napkin. Jacob followed her hands intently, his appetite abruptly gone as he watched a stone archway take shape from the blue lines of ink on paper. "It's some kind of holiday today. There will be so many people… He'll step into the light, and shine, and the Volturi will…"

Her voice stuttered, but then determination flashed over her face.

"They'll do nothing," she said softly, glancing up at Jake. "Because you'll be there."

_Won't you?_

He nodded. There was no need to speak.

_Yes. I will be._

* * *

"Midday," Alice said suddenly.

Jacob whirled, his heart pounding. "What?" He snapped. Every inch forward was another inch closer to Edward – and even if these weren't the circumstances Jacob had imagined them reuniting in, there was a fierce kind of joy in it too.

And desperation. Bleeding, chilling, roaring desperate fear.

_Gotta be on time. Gotta gotta gotta be!_

"Midday," she repeated. "He's going to step out of the arch at midday, when the festival reaches its climax."

Icy water poured into Jake's stomach. "What time is it now?"

Alice's eyes flickered to the designer watch around her wrist.

"Quarter to twelve," she whispered.

Jake bolted.

Yes, she could have come with him. For a little longer. But why? Why take the risk of her headscarf shifting out of place for one crucial second and the sunlight betraying her? When she could do nothing more to help?

Every instinct screamed at him to shift. He would be stronger as a wolf, his senses sharper. He would be _faster_.

But the people – there were so many of them. At any other time it might have shocked him, even scared him – when had he ever seen so many people in one place? Not at the rez. Not in Forks. Despite his mother's last wishes he had never been anywhere else, never had the opportunity to experience the press and noise of faceless crowds decked out in red, talking and laughing and calling to each other, pointing out the sights that matched up to their neat guidebooks. The thousands of scents hit him like a punch in the face; dozens of different kinds of fabric, skin, candy, sweat, stone, smoke, fruit, wine, paper, gunpowder (fireworks for this evening?), cigarettes, human, human human human all around him in all directions, a red sea and him a ship adrift, tossing and turning in the ocean searching for –

His nose burned, and he coughed, snorted as essence of bleach burned his nostrils. _Vampire_.

Not Edward. Not that sweet stardust scent he knew and loved and craved. But he jerked his head up anyway, shoving protesting strangers out of the way to get closer instinctively, skin shivering, bristling as a growl ripped from between his teeth.

For a moment, he caught a glimpse. Under the shadow of someone's verandah – a man in a flawless black suit whose garnet eyes slammed into his from across the square.

_Garnet eyes._

Jacob snarled – _monster!_ The wolf in him howled – but the vampire wrinkled his nose in disgust –

And vanished.

The moment the smell was gone, Jacob's head cleared and he snapped back into focus. Cursing himself, he barreled forwards through the people – what was he doing? He had no time for distractions! His mouth tasted like wet ashes and his heart was beating staccato in his chest – _fear fear Edward fear God please let me find him, please please please –_

So many humans – smothering him – wished he was in the forest, with the trees –

Had to find Edward – Edward's scent, where was it, somewhere had to be somewhere, he had come to this city this place had to be –

_The centre of the city._ He couldn't read (or speak) Italian, but remembering Alice's words he automatically searched for some kind of street sign. The only one he could see _might_ have had the directions he needed, but the writing was illegible to him.

Dammit, how was he supposed to do this? His wolf was clawing at the inside of his skin, desperate to be let out, and knowing he would find Edward's scent-trail in an instant if he shifted wasn't helping his control at all. What time was it now? How much longer did he have? It felt as if he'd been here forever, shouldering his way through the hundreds of people (thousands of people?) all dressed in the blood-red of their vampire rulers – if he could have paid attention it would have made him sick.

Beginning to panic, he started guessing, helpless to do anything else. One street, then another, left right left right, that should cut him diagonally across the city and eventually to its center, right? Each time he hit a crossroads or was forced to make a turn his heart stuttered, and he prayed with everything in him that he was going the right way – if he wasn't – just one wrong turn – he didn't have the time to waste backtracking and correcting his path –

_Oh God oh God oh God –_

In desperation, he grabbed hold of someone's arm.

"Clock tower?" He asked before he remembered the chances of anyone here speaking English; and true enough, the man only shrugged at him in bafflement. "Argh. Clock. Tower?" He pointed to his wrist, the universal symbol for _time?_ and then up at the tall buildings lining this street.

He repeated it twice more before comprehension dawned.

"Si, si!" The stranger – it suddenly occurred to Jacob that he looked quite elderly, too old to be surprised by frantic foreign men searching for giant clocks – pointed down a narrow alley to their right. "Torre dell'orologio."

Jacob had no idea what that meant, but nodded his thanks anyway before running in that direction.

He stumbled; regained his balance and ran on with his heart in his throat.

All the running was beginning to tell. He'd run flat out from Forks to the airport – where their plane had departed from Jacob had been too frantic and afraid to notice or care – and moved very fast indeed from Rome to Volterra. And before that, he'd been up all night with Sam and the others, hunting Victoria. Now he had to expend extra effort to get past all these damn _people_ – Jake was starting to feel tired. Sure, he'd had the brute force of undiluted adrenalin when he heard that Edward was in danger, and a big meal maybe an hour or two ago, but he wasn't a vampire whose body physically couldn't tire. He could only go so far for so long before he collapsed.

_Can't be tired now. Mustn't be tired now. Not now. Edward needs us!_

And now that he'd noticed it, Jacob's fuel gauge was rapidly approaching _empty_.

The smell of humans was stronger here, meaning that there were more of them. Jacob's heart simultaneously fell and soared. Yeah, more people meant slower going – but more people likely meant the city center.

And that meant closer to –

_Edward!_

He didn't stop as he took in the tall spire of the elegant clocktower reaching for the sky, or the tiered fountain that lay between wolf and timepiece. He didn't glance at the procession of red-draped floats and palanquins crossing the left side of the square, too much cheering and flag-waving, or see the sky laid out like a roll of turquoise silk above the heads of the crowd.

He didn't run across the fountain, didn't splash over its wet mosaic and risk slipping, risk being _halted_.

Edward was in the shadow of the archway. _Edward_.

The wolf in him screamed.

Jake yelled aloud in chorus with it.

"_Edward! Stop!"_

With a surge of energy he didn't possess, Jacob _pushed_ his body that extra bit further – and leapt _over_ the damn fountain in an arc large enough and graceful enough to make an Olympic long-distance jumper sick with envy.

He hit the ground running, hard enough and fast enough that he only caught a glimpse of his mate's flawless face twisted in confusion before crashing into him and sending them both to the ground.

Back. Sending them both _back_, away from the deadly sunlight.

Above them, the clocktower chimed. _Midday._

_I did it. _Relief washed over him in a wave – not a half-tame waves the pale-faced kids surfed at the rez's beaches in warm weather, but a tsunami, a force so strong and wild and uncontrollable it felt as though he might be destroyed by it, and Jake sobbed with the force of it, with the release of all the weight – the anger and fear and hope, the panic, the conflictions, the desperation, the need – from his shoulders.

So much relief. The pressure released, the tension dissolved, the weight lifted. _I did it – he's alive oh God he's alive, alive alive, _and then the relief was gone, dissolved like shadows in sunlight at the surge of wild, animal joy.

_He's alive!_

Jacob breathed in – and felt a howl of joy catch in his throat at the strength of Edward's scent. That beautiful, glorious smell that had haunted his dreams ever since he'd caught that fragile trace of it on the photograph.

Swallowing hard, he pushed himself up off the floor – and froze, realising for the first time that he was lying against Edward's body, against his chest. His mate's shirt was unbuttoned, the twin flaps of fabric fallen to bare marble-cool skin, and it was as if some star had fallen to earth and exploded, so strong was the smell of glittering stardust as Jacob whipped his head up to stare into Edward's face – God, his mate's face, Adonis' features sculpted by angels, and his hands, Jake's hands and lips ached to touch that face, to make sure Edward was really, really alive –

Maybe it was the relief making him giddy. Maybe it was the bone-shattering exhaustion. Maybe it was being so close to the center of his world after so long – maybe it was that he had no practice dealing with the unbelievable, impossible _love_ that was as to what he had felt before as a forest fire is to a candle flame. Maybe it was because of all of it that Jake didn't react fast enough when Edward's eyes – soft and frozen with shock – hardened, and his arm lashed out.

Jacob cried out – part pain, part heartbroken _shock_ that his mate had hurt him – as he flew the few feet to the side of the hallway and into the wall.

Edward blurred and was on his feet, and even through the haze of rapidly dulling pain Jacob could only stare at the glory of the vampire's fury. He clutched his chest, hissing through his teeth as he felt broken – somethings – pull themselves together with thick, meaty sounds inside him, reverberating through his skin, and Edward's face burned, achingly beautiful even as his anger made Jacob want to whimper and show his throat in an attempt at placation.

_I'm sorry. Whatever I did, I'm so sorry, don't be mad –_ and yet angry was so much better than dead.

"What are you doing?" Edward hissed at him. "Dear God, who – who are you?"

"Jacob Black," Jake answered instantly. "And –" He winced in faint disgust at the last of his injuries healed, muscle shifting under his hand. "I'm saving you."

_Because Bella's not dead, she's alive, not a suicide cliff-diving a sport jump for the rush, she didn't think of how it would look how it would hurt you I would never have forgotten to think about it –_

"Bella's alive," he said quickly, realising that that was the safest, surest way to distract Edward from the sunlight outside, from the suicide that the vampire was so close to. "What Rosalie told you – she jumped from a cliff, but she wasn't trying to kill herself – it's a game people play –"

Edward was staring, and Jacob had the sudden thought that the vampire wasn't listening. He was staring at Jake's face blankly.

"She's alive," he tried again, hesitantly.

"I… Yes, I heard," Edward murmured, still staring. "Jacob Black. You answered the phone."

Jake knew at once what he was talking about. "Yeah, but – it wasn't Bella's funeral. One of Charlie's fishing buddies died – a heart-attack, the funeral was today…" He frowned, trying to work out the time difference and how long it had been since the funeral. "No wait, yesterday…"

Edward blinked slowly. Almost automatically, Jacob's gaze flickered over Edward's body, searching for an injury, something physical to explain the vampire's delayed reactions. He had imagined Edward's chest wrong; in real life his mate was somewhat gaunt, hipbones beautifully but perhaps painfully defined against stony skin – a permanent reminder of how Edward Anthony Masen had died, and from what Edward Cullen had been born.

But there was no injury.

"Bella? Bella is alive?" Edward whispered. Jacob got to his feet.

"She is," Jake promised, making his voice low and soothing. He forgot to hurt over Bella's name, forgot the jealousy and possessiveness – all that mattered was that he convinced Edward not to step out into the sunlight. A silvery film was spreading over his eyes, the hazy grey of exhaustion, but he couldn't rest yet. "She's in Forks, waiting for you. I promise."

Edward's eyes closed, and having just experienced it Jake recognised the expression of relief so strong it became pain.

"Thank you," the vampire whispered. "Thank you, Jacob Black."

"Jacob Black? So that is the name of the one who smells so very, very foul."

That painfully-sickly bleach smell clawed at his nose, and Jacob whirled into a low crouch in front of Edward, baring his teeth in a low growl as the vampire male he'd seen earlier, accompanied by another, flickered forward.

Dark hair. Dark suits. Red eyes. Unbidden, the name came to him again; _Volturi_, and all he could remember was that this was the group who would have, could have killed his mate.

It was all he needed to know; he didn't flinch as both the Volturi vampires stared at him, obviously surprised by his reaction. Just met their eyes with hard determination, already calculating how to kill them both if they took just one step closer –

_Not gonna let you hurt him, not now not EVER, you'll never get through me –_

He froze instantly as Edward placed a cool hand on his shoulder, effectively leashing him, and swallowed hard.

He'd been right. That cold felt unbelievably good on his skin.

"Demetri, Felix," Edward said calmly. "There has been a misunderstanding. I won't be needing your services today."

"Oh, we're not here for you," the one on the left said dismissively. Relief, albeit tinged with wariness, unfolded in Jake's chest. "_You're_ free to go. But this one…" He nodded at Jake still crouched on the ground, skin tight as a drum, ready to shift in an instant; the vampires dark gold hair fell around his eyes. "Aro wants to inspect this creature himself."

Jacob stiffened.

"He hopes Demetri has found something new for his collection," the other vampire – Felix – added.

Collection?

Whatever it meant, Jacob had no intention of going anywhere with these monsters, and he snarled to prove it. "Go to hell," he hissed. Edward's hand tightened on his shoulder, but somehow Jacob ignored it. "I'm taking Edward home, not paying respects to some leech-king!"

Demetri and Felix exchanged a glance – and then Demetri was gone, and so was Edward's hand, and Jacob's blood turned to ice as he heard his mate cry out, that velvet voice shredded with pain.

"No!" Jacob spun too late, slowed by the haze in front of his eyes, the energy draining out of his limbs. "No, stop it!" His heart stopped, breath caught in his throat and fear exploded; Edward's head wrenched back, Demetri's arm around his mate's throat, holding him captive, hurting him somehow, agony, panic-pain-rage, snarling shifting leaping biting. The taste of _leech_ burning his mouth his tongue his teeth but he held on, held on as someone roared with pain – not Edward, a deeper voice than Edward –

He had never fought a vampire one on one –

_Edward Edward Edward – !_

Pain.

Sheer, all-consuming, never-ending _pain_.

Fire knives whips cold hot wet dry ache stab breathless screaming sharp blunt repetitive constant acidic pain, eating away at his nerve endings, at his brain, all of him, dying, he had to be dying –

If he was dying he couldn't protect Edward –

He tried. Oh God, Jake tried to find the boundaries of his body again, tried to ignore the pain and get to his feet – he sobbed with it, human again, sick and weak and burning without the air to scream, but, _Edward_, cool stone against his face, come on, you have to, drowning in it, every organ in his body twisting away from every other, coming apart, dying dying dying –

_Edward_ –

"How is he doing that?" Someone asked in an amazed whisper, but Jake didn't hear them, just cried out at the agony of _forcing_ his body up, more painful than anything, more than broken bones, more than those days of fever as his DNA broke and reformed before his first change, more than loving a girl who loved a leech –

But it hurt less than missing Edward. There could be no pain greater than that – so he can do this – he _can_ –

"Holy mother of God," someone whispered as Jake's shaking body clawed its way to his feet, the world spinning around him, threatening to shatter and fly apart, sure at any moment that he would be sick, that he would dissolve into ashes, drown on his own blood, die, and it would be a mercy, dying would be a release but he _couldn't_, not when – Edward – needed him –

"Let. Him. Go," he forced out, sucking in desperate breaths, his throat like sandpaper, his voice rough and hoarse as thunder. "Let. Edward. _Go!_ "

There was a stunned silence.

And then the pain was gone, so suddenly and completely that Jacob collapsed, his bones turned to water, weak, exhausted, drained, unable to stand for another second – he crumpled, and cool hands caught him – smaller than his but strong, so good against feverish skin –

He smelled stardust, and pressed his face against the crook of Edward's neck, breathing it in, needing it, the reassurance of it – _you're safe you're okay, you're alive, I didn't fail you_ –

"No," Edward crooned softly, stroking Jake's sweaty hair back, velvet voice wrapping around him as sweetly as a caress, "No, you didn't fail, Jacob, you didn't…"

And in a freakishly weird way, it felt like an afterglow – stretched out, exhausted, wrung dry, and the warmth and love of being in his mate's arms, being close to him, covered in Edward's scent, both of them alive…

"What _have_ you found, Edward?"

"I'll protect you now," Edward whispered against Jake's hair, ignoring the other voice, and Jacob didn't have the strength to object – not to the words, and not to the glow of pleasure they elicited – "Everything will be alright, Jacob Black –"

_Hope so,_ Jacob thought blurrily just before everything went dark.

* * *

"Wake him, Jane."

"No!"

The soft darkness of his sleep exploded like fireworks.

The pain was back. The pain was _back _–

Jacob screamed awake – and it was gone the moment he jackknifed up from the marble floor, heart pounding, adrenalin pumping, sweat beaded on his skin just from that one, agonising moment of it –

_Where am I?_

"Ah, Jacob." Jake couldn't leap to his feet, couldn't whirl around, but he swallowed down the moment of exhausted despair and struggled slowly to all fours, "Welcome. Thank you for joining us."

He was in a large, cool room that seemed to be made entirely of marble, arching into a dome above their heads. At the opposite end of the room were three thrones, raised on a low dais; a handful of paintings were set deliberately on the walls, somehow only enhancing the starkness of the chamber. There were no windows; Jacob sensed that they were deep underground.

And the smell of _vampire_ was so strong in the enclosed space that he retched before he could think.

"Is he well?" The voice queried, sounding more curious than concerned.

"Our smell makes him ill," Alice's voice tinkled like bells, and when had Alice got here?

Amusement as well as curiosity. "Even your own, Edward?"

_No, Edward smells like stardust, not the sickly disgusting too-sweet of bleach burning my nose – _

"No," Edward's velvet voice – his mate, here, alive – and Jacob focused on the scent of his imprinted, shut out all the rest so that he could _breathe_. "Not mine, or Alice's. Perhaps it is related to our diet. Ours is more palatable to him than yours, Aro."

Aro, whoever he was, laughed. "Oh, Edward! I am so very glad you didn't die!"

_I never thought of that,_ Jacob thought hazily. _Do they smell different because they eat animals instead of humans? But the Cullens still smell bad to the rest of the pack, so it can't be that… Must be the imprint._

Jacob forced his head up.

No wonder the smell of leech was so strong. Jacob recoiled; there were vampires _everywhere_, all of them red-eyed with cruel, inhuman faces – he had forgotten that the emotion found in the Cullens' expressions was the exception for their kind, not the rule. Looking at _these_ vamps, Jacob could see that Sam and the pack back home had no idea what kind of evil leeches were capable of.

None of these would hesitate to kill him in a second.

He'd noticed the three thrones at his first glance, and the paintings on the walls, but vampires stood so still it was hard to notice them sometimes. On the dais were three male vampires; one with dark hair, one with black, and one with ashy blond, and all of them staring at him with eyes like embers. To the right of them stood a younger pair, a sable-haired boy and a blonde girl, and if they'd been human Jake would have guessed that they were siblings; the boy had his arm around the girl's shoulder and his body language seemed that of an older brother. He couldn't see Edward; following his mate's smell he turned his head to check behind him.

Only then did he realise that he was on all fours at the very center of the room and every eye was trained on him.

Hastily, he scrambled to his feet, automatically taking a step away from the three thrones. His instincts were beating at him, needing and demanding the strength of his pack around him; _so many vampires, enemies monsters killers danger danger not safe, not safe not safe – _

Edward's scent enveloped him as his mate's hand touched his arm, the vampire moving from somewhere behind him to stand beside him, and Jacob simultaneously relaxed and tensed. His mate's proximity reassured the wolf in him – and reminded him sharply that they were both in danger.

"You shouldn't be here," he said softly, not taking his eyes from the three on the thrones. These had to be the three leaders Alice had told him – yes, he remembered her mentioning the name _Aro._ "They said you could go."

"Indeed we did, young mortal," the black-haired leader declared, rising from his gilded chair. His throne was set at the center of the dais and a little forward from the other two; the wolf's instinct sensed dominance, and he knew immediately that this was the vampire in charge, regardless of the Volturi's claim to three leaders. _Aro_. "But he insisted on accompanying you here. Considering your extraordinary display in front of Jane," Aro dipped his head at the young blonde girl, "We assumed that you wouldn't mind."

Aro smiled at him. It made Jake want to bare his teeth.

"Don't," Edward whispered beside him.

Aro's gaze flickered to Edward, but swiftly returned to Jacob. He was both glad and reluctant to have those eyes on him; it meant the monster wasn't focused on Edward – and that was a very, very good thing – but Jacob didn't want Aro's attention on _him_, either.

"I must ask, what manner of supernatural creature are you, precisely?" Aro asked, stepping down from the dais. "Demetri claims that you became a wolf. Is this true?"

Jacob stiffened, unsure what to say. Sam's edict to keep the secret resounded in his head; but it was a little pointless now, after he'd shifted in front of at least three people – and apparently this Jane as well, though he didn't remember seeing her in the hallway.

"Yes," he said warily.

"And… Forgive me for asking, but do you have a pack, dear Jacob?"

"No," Jake replied instantly. He might have ousted himself, but he would not betray his pack – and he didn't like the covetous gleam in Aro's eyes. "It's just me."

Yet his answer didn't sadden the vampire in the least – Aro still looked delighted. "A werewolf! Do you hear, Caius?" Aro clapped his hands together and turned to one of the others on the thrones – the blond man. "We have a genuine werewolf in our midst!"

Caius' expression said clearly that Aro's childish delight was just that – childish, and possibly offensive as well.

Aro turned back to them. "Well, I _am_ glad that you returned to your senses, Edward," the coven master beamed. "Dear Alice has explained everything to us. I am sure you are eager to return to your Bella, but please, bear in mind that she really should be changed soon." Aro's face turned faintly disapproving, like a teacher chiding a favourite pupil. "It is quite unacceptable to let a human know of our world for too long. Either kill her or change her, but do it soon, if you please." As easily as changing a mask, his face became a bright smile again. "Bear it in mind, but you and your sister are quite free to go."

Jacob's breath released in a shuddery wave of relief, the tension melting from his shoulders. They weren't going to harm Edward. Or Alice. He hadn't known the Seer very long, and her loss wouldn't hurt as much as Edward's, but her death would have been painful and sad. She was as good a person as any human. Better than a lot of humans, really.

He wondered if he could convince Sam of that.

He wondered what it would be like, the Cullens and the wolf pack working together to hunt and destroy Victoria.

"What about Jacob?" Alice piped up, and suddenly she was there on Jacob's left, Edward's hand clutching tightly to Jake's right. "Can't we bring him home? He's my puppy."

She put her arms around Jake's waist – he was wearing a shirt, he realised belatedly, how was he wearing a shirt after shifting to attack Demetri? – and cocked her head sweetly at Aro, transformed instantly into a cute, innocent darling convincing enough that even Sam would have been fooled. She did everything but bat her eyes at the Volturi's king to make herself look six years old. "Bella is Edward's pet, and Jake's my puppy," she chirped, beaming up at Aro. "Please say I can take him home?"

It took him a moment or two to process what she was saying. He had a glimpse of confused anger flicker over Edward's face in the corner of his vision; then it was gone, and Edward swiftly dropped Jacob's arm.

His mate's handprint burned on his arm.

But Jacob was swiftly so angry that he barely noticed; he pulled away viciously from Alice with a snarl, so quick and hard that even with a vampire's grace she stumbled.

"Jacob," Edward hissed pleadingly, but no, no, not right not true how _dare _she, and Jacob snarled again, deep and rumbling out of the depths of his chest, loud enough to fill the room and bounce off the marble walls.

"I am _not_ your pet," Jacob hissed at Alice, not understanding the flicker of fear that crossed her face and not caring. "Don't you dare call me that!"

"Jake," Alice whispered urgently, "Please!" But his blood was pounding in his ears, the grey wash of exhaustion stained a vibrant red that pulsed to his heartbeat, and he backed up away from her quickly, growling through his teeth, angry and wary and, deep down, confused by this turn of events, watching for any signs of a collar or leash as if she might magic them out of the air.

"I am sorry, Alice, but it seems Jacob is not willing to go home with you," Aro said kindly, and Jake's head snapped up, his wariness catching on the false note in Aro's voice like sandpaper on rough wood. "Never mind. We'll take good care of him for you."

"What?" Confusion and dawning fear clutched at his throat as Aro waved a hand for an attendant, his anger shriveling up under that ruthless garnet gaze. "What are you talking about? Alice? Edward? What is he talking about?"

He hated the note of panic in his voice, but Demetri and Felix and another two vampires he hadn't seen before were walking smoothly towards him, and he recognised the motion; it was the exact same way the pack spread out to take down prey when they hunted together. In his throne, Caius sat up as if eager to watch the spectacle; someone proffered Aro a black velvet box, the kind used to hold expensive jewelry, and the hunters were getting closer and closer to him.

"What are they d-doing?" He shouldn't have been afraid. He was Sam's beta, he was one of the strongest and best werewolves seen in generations – but he was very, very far from home, without the strength of his pack behind him and no one but leeches around him.

He spun around, desperate. "Edward, please!" It was instinct to appeal to his mate – Edward would explain, wouldn't he? Explain how this was all a misunderstanding, something normal that Jake was misreading and blowing out of proportion – Edward would touch his face and hair and croon to him again, soothe him – wouldn't he?

But Edward was staring at Alice's frantic face, not at Jacob, and Aro was smiling as he lifted the lid of the box and, reverently lifted out a gleaming silver collar with both hands. "I really must thank you for bringing us such an exquisite gift, Edward," he said idly, smiling. "Such a fine specimen…"

He should have shifted. His fear should have become fury, and he should have changed and attacked, defended himself.

But he didn't, because he was staring at Edward, desperate for his mate to acknowledge him. To help him. Desperate for Edward not to abandon him to this.

And then Demetri and Felix crashed into Jacob from behind, grabbing his shoulders, and Jacob roared in fear and pain and anger, anger that came too late to help him because they held him too tight to change, clamping on his arms so that the skin couldn't move and break and change under their grip, and being unable to change in one part of his body threw the whole transition off, made it impossible to fight back as they forced him to his knees. Someone gripped his neck, and his pulse pounded frantically against the thumb that circled around his throat.

Pain.

Fear.

Fury.

Heartbreak.

Heartbreak because, even with Aro walking closer (and Jake didn't know what that collar did but he knew it was bad, knew that he _did not want _that around his neck) and Jacob on his knees, a helpless prisoner of the worst monsters Jake's nightmares could produce – even now, Edward wouldn't look at him.

_Please_, he begged silently, _please, don't let them do this to me! I love you! Don't let them! _

_Edward!_

His mate closed his eyes, his face torn.

Aro knelt down in front of Jacob, and instinctively Jake snarled, lunging for him; Felix grunted, and Jacob cried out as their grip on him tightened still more, grinding his bones.

"Now now," Aro chided, his lips parted slightly in anticipation, "be a good pup, Jacob, and this won't hurt nearly as much…"

_NO!_ Jacob writhed, snarling, desperate, viciously twisting in an attempt to _make them let go_, and he was gagging on their thick, cloying smell, going to be sick if his heart didn't beat itself out of his chest first, _no, please God no EDWARD!_

"_Stop!_"

One word. One word that cut through everything as cleanly as the sword of Michael.

The vampires holding him froze. Aro's eyes closed with a quiet sigh, as if he resented the interruption but was determined to indulge in the image of justice. "Yes, Edward?"

Jacob was panting hard, and his heart was in his throat. Edward. His mate's velvet voice burning like white fire in the darkness. He felt like he was in shock, the same muggy, slow-motion numbness he'd experienced after Sam sat him down and explained werewolves and vampires and the Real World; his eyes were fixed on the silver collar still in Aro's hands. He could see the clasp and the hinge, he thought hysterically. It looked like there were two tiny, tiny needles on either side of it, where they would press into his skin, and some electrical set-up thing. He didn't understand any of it; he just _wanted the fucking thing away from him!_

Edward looked uncertain under Aro's attention, but somehow grimly determined, as well. After the last hour, Jacob understood how it felt to be torn between conflicting emotions like that, but he could still only see Edward from the corner of his eye. He didn't dare look away from Aro's hands. "I know it is your custom to…" He glanced at Jacob and swallowed. "…To capture and train any werewolves you come across, but Alice wasn't lying to you. Jacob is ours."

Aro shifted his weight back onto his heels, away from Jacob. _Away_ from Jacob. Oh thank you God. "Ours?" He asked idly. "Edward…"

"Mine," Edward interrupted, and Jake's head snapped up in shock, in confusion, in hesitant, shy _joy_. "Jacob is _mine_."

_Jacob is mine_.

Jake's heart skipped a beat, not sure he'd heard that right. Not sure he dared believe it. But it was hard not to, hard to be cynical when his wolf was howling inside him, rejoicing, and it felt like light – as if someone were pouring bright, golden light into him, filling him up to the brim as it dawned on him that _yes_, _Edward said it, he said it! For real! _

Or… He faltered. Wait. What did Edward mean by that? Jacob knew what he _wanted_ it to mean, but everyone seemed to want him as their bloody _dog_ today… Not a lover.

Aro's smile was, for once, not shiny plastic but wry and real. "You already have one pet, Edward," he said a little sharply. "Please do not push the Volturi's indulgence any further."

Edward met his gaze calmly, coldly. "I didn't say he was my pet."

_Yes!_ Jacob exulted. _Yes, yes! _

Edward wanted him. His imprinted – his mate – his Edward _wanted_ him. Cared enough, loved him enough, to face down a leech king to protect him.

_And you thought he'd abandoned us_, the wolf whispered.

_Never again_, Jacob swore. _I'll never doubt him again._

Aro frowned. "Please explain," he said graciously.

"Jacob is my mate," Edward said clearly, each word perfectly enunciated in that glorious velvet voice – and despite expecting it, despite everything, Jacob's heart stuttered to hear himself acknowledged, so clearly and forcefully, so definitely. "Our laws hold that bond as sacred, Aro. Werewolf or no…"

"Not only pathetic enough to take his own life, but to cavort with a werewolf?" The blond king's lips pulled back over his teeth in disgust. "You disgrace your species."

Despite himself, it interested Jacob that the vampires didn't seem at all appalled – or even interested – in the idea of two men together, only that he was a werewolf.

It interested him a lot.

Aro held up a hand to quiet his co-king. "You already claimed Bella as your mate, dear Edward," he said softly, but a harsh cold glittered in his eyes. "Please. Do not presume to question our intelligence."

Edward clasped his hands together and bowed smoothly, so graceful it made Jacob ache. "My apologies for the deception, Aro. In all honesty, I guessed at Caius' feelings – and, I'm sure, your own – and concocted the story to sway you." He straightened, his eyes cool and clear – and yes, he owned Jacob's heart and soul already, had done ever since Jacob set eyes on that treasured photograph in Bella's room; but in that moment, if there had been anything else left in him Jacob would have set it at Edward's feet in tribute to that smooth, confident strength. "Alice was trying to save me the embarrassment of being caught out, I suspect… I thought the Volturi more likely to grant my request if I were mourning the death of a human lover, but in truth I fell in love with Jacob some time ago and couldn't stand it any longer. I know how our two races feel about each other. It tortured me. I was sure it could never end well if I pursued it; I was so sure Jacob would be horrified if he heard of my feelings, and I couldn't bear to confess only to have him loathe me… But nor could I live without him."

He couldn't breathe. Couldn't breathe, or think, or take his eyes away from the soft, shy smile Edward turned on him. He was sure his heart had stopped, unable to believe the heaven-sent perfection of what he was hearing.

_I never knew. Oh God, I never… If I'd known before!_

Edward was in love with him. In love. With Jacob. Already. For so long. How long? It didn't matter, only that here, now, Edward was saying…

It took everything Jake had not to throw his head back and howl the fierce, wild joy and delight that threatened to burst out of him like a lightshow.

And he ached to kiss that smile – to hold Edward's face in his hands and kiss him breathless, senseless, promise to love him forever and ever and _I could never hate you, not ever not ever…Oh, Edward…_ His heart pulsed, pumping soft, gentle waves of golden warmth through his body.

"I had no idea he felt the same," his mate murmured, still staring into Jacob's eyes as if he might fall into them. As if no one else existed in all the world – exactly the way Jake had been fighting so hard _not_ to look at Edward, for fear of scaring him off too soon. "Now that I know, I can't walk away, Aro."

After a moment, the vampire king nodded, rising to his feet – away from Jacob, who breathed a sigh of deep relief. "Very well," he assented with a dip of his head. Relief flashed across Alice and Edward's faces, his mate's touched with a quiet joy that filled Jake with jubilation, exhilaration, eagerness to hold him and kiss him and assure Edward that Jacob loved him too, loved him back, would forever – "But I'm afraid we cannot simply take your word for it, Edward."

They all froze.

Aro smiled benignly. "You have admitted to lying to us once before. Why should we trust your word now? But come." He made a gesture, and one of the other vampires took the collar carefully from his grasp; once it was safe Aro stretched out his hand to Edward, still smiling. "Take my hand. If you are telling the truth, you have nothing to fear."

_No_. Jacob didn't wait for Edward to answer or for Aro to pull some new trick; he snarled and lunged forward. This time his guards weren't expecting it. This time, he jerked free, and Demetri and Felix hissed a warning but he was ready for them, ducked and dodged their hands and his feet scrambled on the marble floor but he was up and moving and between Edward and Aro.

"Don't you touch him," he snarled, crouching, ready to spring and shift. No one was going to stop him this time; he saw the wariness in the guards eyes, unsure how to react. "Don't you _dare_."

He wasn't going to let this _monster_ touch his angel. Wasn't going to risk Aro having some strange, dangerous power that could hurt Edward with a touch. Wasn't going to let his mate be tarnished or polluted by this creature's darkness. Not _ever_.

Aro raised carefully defined eyebrows, but Jacob's determination didn't flicker. It didn't matter that he was tired. It didn't matter that he was outnumbered, in unfamiliar territory, that he'd been shaken and hurt and scared and desperate today, a nauseating rollercoaster of emotions. Because Edward loved him, and even if he hadn't Jake would still be standing here, without doubt or hesitation ready to die to keep his mate safe.

_Imprinting makes everything simple._

"We require proof, wolf," Aro said calmly. "If you will not let me read his thoughts…"

He trailed off pointedly. Jacob hesitated.

But Aro made no offensive move. "Marcus?" He said instead, apparently addressing the third vampire on the thrones – the dark-haired man who hadn't spoken yet. In fact, when Jacob risked a glance at him, the man – Marcus – wasn't even paying attention to the proceedings, regardless of the fact that it was all going on just below his feet. He was staring off into the distance, his head propped on one hand as though unutterably bored.

Now, though, he glanced up slowly. "Yes?" His voice was low, somehow soft and hoarse at the same time, as if he hadn't spoken for too long.

Aro gestured towards Jacob and Edward. "Tell us, Marcus," he said smoothly. "How do these two feel about each other?"

Jake was confused – how on earth could this Marcus tell something like that? – but behind him Edward tensed, and Alice's face was suddenly drawn tight.

Marcus' eyes were a duller red than any he'd yet seen when they looked at him. Jake's wolf growled inside his head with instinctive loathing; but Jacob was caught by surprise by what he saw in those eyes.

They looked… He hesitated to use the word even in his own head, but Marcus' eyes looked sad. No, not sad – not even empty – what was the right word? Where had he seen that expression before? He'd seen that oil-and-water mix of sorrow and loss and pain in the eyes of someone he loved – blurred and hazed beneath a layer of lung-crushing numbness.

His dad. His dad had looked just like that when the doctors told them Jake's mom was dead.

_That's how I'd look_, he realised suddenly, _if I lost Edward._

Despite himself, he felt a surge of pity for this old, broken, lonely man in his cold throne. _Who did he lose?_

Marcus' eyes widened minutely, and he sat up straighter, his mask of a face creasing into surprise as he stared at Jacob. Jake shifted from foot to foot, uneasy, uncomfortable beneath that gaze – both his wolf's instincts and he himself. But Marcus wasn't staring at him as if he were something to eat, the way he'd feared; he looked at Jake as if some exquisite piece of art had been revealed from a completely unexpected source.

He felt Edward relax, saw Alice smile to herself.

"Marcus?" Aro asked, a slight note of irritation tainting his voice.

"Yes, Aro," Marcus answered slowly. "Your Edward speaks the truth. I have never seen a love like this one."

Jacob's heart soared. He wasn't sure how Marcus could tell, but to hear confirmation from an unbiased source was unspeakably _wonderful_. It was almost like being publically acknowledged – to have it out in the open, even if that meant in a vampire court thousands of miles away from the people who mattered… Someone else believed him. Believed in _them_.

Behind him, Edward winced, and Jake glanced at him over his shoulder, confused and worried.

His mate smiled at him reassuringly, and Jacob's concern melted away like ice in sunlight. He smiled back reflexively, unable to resist.

Aro still looked unconvinced.

"Oh, just kiss him already," Alice said unexpectedly, her bell-like voice trilling with amusement. "Plant one on him, Jake! That will convince you, won't it?" She asked Aro, beaming.

Aro seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded. "Of course. True love's kiss is a powerful thing, is it not? Yes. A kiss, to convince us you speak the truth, and then all three of you can leave."

_A kiss?_ Jacob straightened out of his crouch, uncertain. They wanted him to – what? Kiss Edward? _Now?_

"No way in hell," he snapped. "What are you, some kind of pervert? No. No way!" He was just going to preform like a trained dog – to kiss Edward… That kind of stuff was _private!_ And… Okay, so calling it _sacred_ was banal and girly, but, still. You kissed people you loved, and it was something special, something between just the two of you. No way was he kissing Edward for the first time at the order of some leech king. A kiss was meant to express love – not prove it for the sake of vampire voyeurs!

Aro smiled. "In that case…"

"No," Edward snapped. "That's not why he's protesting, Aro."

Suddenly he was standing in front of Jacob, between him and the rest of the room that faded away as Edward reached up to touch Jacob's face.

Jake's breath caught in his throat.

Edward smiled – and those gold eyes were so soft, so warm and deep that Jacob could have drowned in them, in the rich, heady scent wrapped around him like a caress. He wanted nothing more than to drown in those eyes. They shone like stars, like twin suns at the centre of Jacob's universe. The heart of him – no, the heart of _everything_.

"He wants to make it special," Edward murmured to Aro, but Jacob had forgotten the leech king, forgotten where they were. Edward's palm lay against the side of his face, cool and soothing and sweet, meeting the flame of Jacob's skin and melting into deliriously good sparks. Sunlight on diamond, lightening, the wild, screaming exhilaration of a cyclone – all of it swept through him like a forest fire, and he shuddered, reached up to grasp Edward's wrist and hold his hand there.

_Mine._

A low rumble in his chest. Waves of smoldering heat, rising up from his core, languid and burning and golden, glazing his eyes and heightening every sense. There was no one else. Nothing else. Time and space had no meaning at all except to put him here, now, with Edward's fingers against his jaw and his mate's scent deep in his lungs.

"Kiss me," Edward whispered, topaz eyes wide and glazed, and Jacob growled low in his throat and bent his head to Edward's lips.

White fire exploded beneath his skin as they touched, and with a groan Jake used his grip on Edward's arm to tug the vampire closer, pull Edward against his chest. Cold shot down his body from Edward's open shirt, refreshing as the blast from a freezer in the middle of summer, and his mate smelled so sweet, his lips smooth and perfect as glass under Jake's mouth. Jacob cradled Edward's jaw reverently, softly, and parted his lips to breathe against the vampire's mouth. Warmth against frost, a summer breeze over snow, and Edward's eyes fell closed so unbearably sweetly, shivering.

He slid one arm tightly around Edward's waist, wanting more, wanting closer, closer closer, and Edward froze against his mouth –

And then Edward's hands were in his hair and he was kissing Jake _back_, mouth open and hungry and almost violent, delicious, exciting, exactly how Jacob had imagined it – the vampire pressed up against him, fire and ice meeting and melding into fireworks – Jake cupped the back of Edward's neck and the vampire _groaned_, shuddering under his touch, the werewolf's heat skittering across marble skin and into it, deep down into the stone-hard flesh – their teeth clicked and Edward's strength drove the wolf wild, made him burn – and yet Edward opened up for him so easily, wantonly, perfectly, craving his heat as much as Jake loved his diamond-frost – even his teeth tasted sweet –

Tinkling laughter.

There were people watching.

Hastily, Jacob broke the kiss, rearing his head back as he flushed with embarrassment. _Oh God. That did not just happen_. It felt as though his ears were burning as he saw Alice giggle, her hand over her mouth, amber eyes sparkling with mirth.

So that he didn't have to face anyone else, Jacob looked back down at Edward – and the world spun, threatening to vanish again at the dazed, hungry expression on his mate's face, the desire glowing in those eyes tugging insistently at him.

His wolf was smug. So was Jacob – pleased, relieved, smug (he had to remember to send an email of thanks to Jason and Matthew, the maintainers of ) – and so in love he honestly wondered if he was going to burst at any moment.

"Well." Aro cleared his throat, but Jake ignored him, unable to look away from Edward – and still smugly pleased to note that his mate couldn't tear his gaze away from him either. _I kissed him. I KISSED Edward! _"I must say, that was rather convincing. I suppose the three of you are free to go."

Edward blinked slowly, and some of the desire cleared from his eyes. "I… Yes. Thank you." Jacob saw his throat bob as he swallowed. "I'll give Carlisle your greetings." It made Jake want to bite him there. Right there over his Adam's apple, so that it would ache a reminder every time Edward swallowed…

Edward closed his eyes and whimpered, so softly that Jake almost missed it.

If he'd been a wolf, his ears would have pricked forward as the sound rammed down his spine like a dagger into his stomach, hard and fast and vicious.

"Hey. Jake." Dainty fingers snapped in front of his face, and Jacob blinked. "Yes, come on, Jacob. We should really be going." Alice's smile was wickedly innocent. "You can molest my brother later. We have a flight to catch."

Edward's eyes flew open. "Alice!" He hissed, obviously embarrassed. It took Jake a moment to remember that his mate wouldn't blush – no matter how adorable that would have been.

His sister laughed – and Jacob laughed with her. "Come on," Jacob grinned, slinging an arm around Edward's shoulders. "Like Alice said – we have a plane to catch."

He was so alight and full and complete and _happy_, so exhilarated and jubilant, that he even managed a jaunty little wave at Aro as Felix escorted them from the throne room. _Bye bye, leech king._

He thought he saw Marcus smile as the doors closed behind them.

* * *

Alice dropped down into the seat beside her brother, flicking her slim silver phone shut with a satisfying _click_. "Rosalie says to tell you she's sorry."

Edward's expression didn't flicker; he remained staring into the distance.

"Carlisle and the others will meet us in Seattle," she added, watching for his reaction. "They're all so happy that you're alright."

"And supremely grateful to Jacob, I'm sure," Edward murmured.

Alice shrugged delicately, quickly continuing with her translation of _Macbeth_ into Morse Code. It wasn't often that she had to hide her thoughts from Edward, and she was only halfway through Act One; but then, in the last two years she had also translated _Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew _and _The Merchant of Venice _into a variety of languages. Her favorites to use were Chinese – Mandarin, to be precise – and Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Both were complex enough to shield her secrets from her telepathic brother.

Such as the fact that their family were conflicted between supporting Bella or Jacob for Edward's affections.

'_It is his own choice, Alice,'_ Carlisle had said over the phone. His voice had not been strict, only soft and affectionate. Her family might occasionally grow annoyed with her interfering, but they all knew she only ever acted out of love for them. _ 'You must let him make it alone.'_

Carlisle was the single most sincerely _good_ person Alice had ever known, but occasionally she thought he might be wrong. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't Edward's fault, either, but her brother had spent so long ruthlessly denying himself all but the most private pleasures – playing music and reading – that he would need a hand to embrace this new possibility for happiness.

A hand Alice would happily lend him.

"Carlisle is proud of you," she said softly, flipping her phone over in her fingers. "For saving Jacob the way you did."

"He shouldn't be," Edward replied just as quietly, his face as drawn and tired as was possible for one of their kind. "I wonder if it would have been kinder to let the Volturi have him." He closed his eyes, either not noticing or ignoring Alice's look of horror. "Deceiving Jacob may have been the cruelest thing I have ever done."

"You saved his life!" Alice protested. "They would have tortured him – broken him into their pet guard dog!"

"And he might find that preferable," Edward whispered, "To learning that I lied to him."

Alice raised her eyebrows. "Are you so sure it was a lie?" She asked softly.

Edward's head snapped to face her, but before he could snarl an answer she glanced down at his lap, to where her brother's fingers were carding through the hair of a sleeping werewolf.

"You didn't realise you were doing it, did you?" She asked as he froze, staring down at his hand as if it might explode at any moment. "I heard what Demetri told Aro while Jake was unconscious, Edward. How he fought through Jane's pain just to try and protect you." She paused for a reaction, but he didn't give her one. "I _know_ you, Edward. I know that what he did couldn't have failed to touch you." She could only imagine what it must have been like to be able to hear Jacob's every thought as the werewolf forced himself to his feet in front of them all – to know that the love felt for you was the reason the feat was possible.

How could the strength of Jacob's love fail to make some impression on Edward?

"And I know that you weren't faking nearly as much of that kiss as Aro thinks you did."

"Don't go there, Alice," Edward warned her. His voice had gone cold.

But she ignored him. "It's true, isn't it? You lost yourself in his feelings and his body, Edward, and I think you felt something yourself. Something that you've _never_ felt with Bella."

Her brother snarled – low and rumbling, like a mountain lion in a man's skin. "This discussion is _over_," he hissed in a tone that brooked no argument, not even from his Seer of a sister.

But she saw that when Jacob turned and murmured restlessly in his sleep her brother's fingers automatically continued to card soothingly through the wolf's hair. Edward never seemed to notice that he was doing it.

"I'm impressed that you can stand the smell, though," Alice commented as she opened the book she'd purchased at the airport.

Her brother glanced at her, obviously confused. "What smell?"

And Edward's future, when she looked, was still made dark and impenetrable by Jacob's presence in it.

* * *

They woke Jacob for boarding. He blinked bleary eyes and followed their soft instructions to the letter, too dazed and tired to do anything else, and could only be convinced to let go of Edward's hand to pass through the metal detector.

He passed out again the moment he found his seat, his head pillowed on Edward's shoulder, their fingers laced together and his mate's scent deep in his dreams.

He could sleep now. He could rest. Edward was here, and safe, and everything was going to be alright now.

* * *

"Jacob," Alice murmured, reaching out to gently shake Jake's shoulder. "We've landed, Jacob. You need to wake up now."

It took a moment, but finally the werewolf blinked his eyes open at her, and she smiled. She had seen him distraught and determined and desperate, seen him snarl and shift and square his stance for attack – but despite all that, she couldn't help thinking that he was really quite cute as he sat up in his seat.

"Here?"

"Seattle," she informed him, guessing that he hadn't been awake enough before to see where their flight was going.

It suddenly occurred to her how much trust he'd placed in them in the airport. He hadn't questioned them once, hadn't asked where they were going or why he had to take his shoes off for the security (Alice had been the one to dress him in clothes from his back-back, when Demetri and Felix dumped him naked on the floor of the Volturi's throne-room). He had just obeyed; instantly, good-naturedly, trustingly.

He had trusted them enough to fall asleep in the presence of two vampires, creatures that should have been his greatest enemies.

And he had trusted _her_ enough to come running across continents without a second thought to help her save her brother.

It made her heart ache, and she saw Edward wince as he heard the thought.

Jacob saw it too, and Alice marveled at how his eyes cleared instantly, how quickly he turned to her brother, how tenderly he squeezed Edward's fingers, still laced with his. "Are you alright?"

Edward closed his eyes and nodded. "I'm fine," he said softly.

But Alice could see the tension in him as they queued to get off the plane, as they made their way through the bustling airport and past the luggage collection that was empty for them – and she knew it wasn't the presence of so many humans that was turning his eyes dark and haunted the closer they came to the arrivals gate.

Which proved her point, she thought. If Edward hadn't cared about Jacob at all, he would have been happy, joyous, even, because every step forward brought him closer to Bella – and not closer to breaking Jake's heart into tiny pieces.

Edward gave a small groan of pain at the thought in her head.

"Alright, stop," Jacob said suddenly, calling them to a halt, and both vampires looked at him – Alice surprised, because for all that she had been thinking about him she had almost forgotten he was with them; Edward haunted, because Jake was focused on him with stern concern that her brother didn't deserve. "You haven't been fine since we landed. What's wrong?"

Edward glanced at his sister helplessly, but she set her mouth in a thin line and shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. _No. If you want to turn down the best thing that ever happened to you and go back to some stupid human, fine, but I'm not going to help you do it._

"Edward?" Jacob asked softly, suddenly so painfully uncertain it made Alice want to leap up and hug him. "Is it… Is it Bella?" He looked away for a moment. "I guess we should have talked about what to tell people. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have fallen asleep like that, I should have realised –"

* * *

"Jacob," Edward said gently. Jake shut up instantly, and when Alice saw the look in his eyes she shook her head and walked away, because she couldn't stand to hear this, watch this. Not with Jacob gazing at her brother as if he were the centre of the universe, the be-all and end-all of everything, dark brown eyes lit up with hope and love.

_Bella doesn't look at you like that, Edward,_ she shot at him as she left the room, moving into the little green tunnel of _Nothing To Declare_ that would lead her into the main airport, to where her family was waiting. _She wants you, and she needs you like a drug, but star-eyed adoration isn't love – it's obsessive hero-worship. Someday you're going to realise that, and you'll regret this. You'll regret pushing Jacob away because he DOES love you, and you know it, and you won't have anyone to blame but yourself._

"Jacob," his mate said gently, "It's not your fault. Please don't be sorry for falling asleep. Alice told me what the two of you had to do to…find me. You had every right to your rest."

Jacob breathed deeply, relaxing a little at the reassurance, as Edward no doubt intended. But he didn't miss the fact that Edward's unhappiness hadn't faded one little bit – or the fact that he hadn't answered Jake's question.

"Is it Bella?" He asked again, quiet. He _really_ didn't want to hear the answer, because he was pretty sure he knew what it was going to be. Jacob had no idea what they were going to tell his human friend – didn't know what they _could_ say without sending her into another breakdown.

Maybe they should say nothing. It would be easy to keep a relationship secret from Bella. Jake might want to scream his joy and triumph to the heavens and tell everyone he knew that Edward was _his_, but no one on the rez would breathe a word to Bells if they saw him hanging out on the beach with his mate. Surely the Cullens would keep the secret too?

But unless Edward broke up with Bella first, Jake's wolf would always be on the knife-edge, ready to kill her for being with _his_ Edward. And it wouldn't be fair to ask Edward to cheat on someone for him.

So how were they going to do it?

Edward sighed. "It is," he admitted quietly. "But not the way you think."

He looked up and met Jake's eyes –

And Jacob went cold. Because. Edward's eyes. Were.

Reluctant. Sad. Apologetic and so appallingly gentle and tender that Jacob wanted to cry just from looking into them, just from the apprehension of what those eyes were trying to tell him.

"Jacob, I am not in love with you," Edward said softly. So softly. So soft and low that Jake had to strain to hear it – or was that just the effort it took to stay upright, stay dry-eyed, stay conscious? He wasn't sure. Wasn't sure he could hear anything over the sound of his world falling apart in slow motion.

"…What?" Jake whispered. No. He must have misheard. Edward's declaration to Aro – Marcus – their kiss – Edward had held his hand and stroked his hair and let Jake sleep on his shoulder, had held him when he was wracked with agony – Edward could not have said what Jake had heard.

But "I'm not in love with you," Edward repeated quietly. "I… I lied. To Aro. To you." He couldn't seem to meet Jacob's eyes now that his confession was out; he looked away, maybe in shame, maybe in guilt, maybe it didn't matter at all. "The Volturi make a point of capturing werewolves, any werewolves they find across the word. The collar Aro would have put on you – it connects electronically to a ring he would wear, injects vampire venom into your veins if you ever disobeyed them. Small doses, not enough to kill you, but… They would torture you, Jacob. Take your mind apart piece by piece and break you down until you were nothing but a Volturi guard dog. You saved my life; the least I could do was save yours in return."

There was a ringing in his ears. The kind of sound that shattered glass. Jake wondered numbly if his heart was made of glass, because it sure felt as if it were breaking.

"Why are you saying this?" He whispered, unable to keep the agonising disbelief out of his voice. "Don't say things like that. It's cruel." His voice broke, and he shook his head like a dog to shake the words free, refusing to listen, refusing to believe, because that had to be it – it had to be some kind of joke – a cruel joke. He didn't want to believe that his mate was capable of something like that but it was better than – better than the words being _true_ – which they weren't – they couldn't be – "You've no idea how much it hurts to hear – please don't –"

_Please_ –

There was a weak reflection of his own agony in Edward's eyes. "I'm sorry," the vampire said quietly. "I never intended to cause you pain, Jacob. But there was no other way – please understand, no other claim would have been great enough to trump the Volturi's edict that all wolves must be given up to them. Only the bond between mates allows one to leave their service – and even that only sometimes –"

He started to talk about Marcus' mate, and how she'd been killed to keep Marcus from leaving the Volturi. Jacob just stared at him, and gradually Edward grew silent, seeming to sense the black hole slow-spinning into existence in Jake's chest and unable to think of anything to fill it. It was so slow. So small. But getting bigger and bigger – gradually growing, directly proportional to the silence between the two mates.

"You. Lied?" Jacob breathed. He could feel his strength being leeched away – feel his light being eaten up by the black hole. His warmth. Everything – everything right and good and beautiful in the world, in the universe, being sucked away from him – "About – about u-us?" He stared at Edward, trying to make sense of it. Trying to fit all the pieces together. "About. E-everything?"

He didn't mean to cry. He didn't even notice that it was becoming harder to breathe.

But when Edward nodded – just once, jerky and reluctant and _so sorry, so sorry_ written all over his face – when Edward confirmed it, Jacob sobbed. His knees gave way, and the world spun out of control and shattered and he cried. His heart broke, his soul bled, and Jacob cried on his knees in the middle of Seattle airport, forgetting his pride, forgetting the stares and whispers, forgetting his surroundings because they didn't exist – because the world had died, the sun had died –

Because Edward had lied, and nothing else would ever matter again.

* * *

Jasper let out a cry and crumpled just as Alice spotted them.

"Jasper!" It took every ounce of control she possessed not to run to him as fast as she could – as fast as only a vampire could, but there were too many people – and Carlisle had him, Carlisle would take care of him the fifteen seconds it took to cross the black-and-white floor –

"What is it, son?" She heard their father ask, voice cool and calm regardless of the fact that _nothing_ had ever taken her husband out like that – he was the most dangerous of them all; his scars wrote a lifetime of war and death over his skin, a tally of enemies triumphed over and destroyed –

"The boy," Jasper forced out through gritted teeth, his face twisted with agony, clutching his stomach even though they all knew that wasn't where the pain was. "The wolf, Jacob, ah! So much _pain_!"

Carlisle hesitated, glanced at Alice as she drew closer to them.

"Edward must have told him," she said sadly as she knelt down and wrapped her arms around her lover, her husband, her soulmate; she brushed soft, gentle kisses over his face, crooning meaningless nothings at him to draw him back, to distract him from Jacob's emotions. "He was just starting as I left."

Carlisle sighed and stood up. "Emmett, lift him," he ordered quietly. "Take Jasper to the car, that should be far enough away. Yes, Alice, by all means please go with him," he added before his youngest daughter could ask. Esme stepped closer to her husband, and Carlisle wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her; they all knew how much the thought of anyone in pain hurt her, and this was not only hurting Edward and Jacob but Jasper as well. "The rest of us will wait for Edward. I'm sure he will need our support now."

"And what about Jacob?" Alice asked bitterly. "He saved Edward's _life_."

Carlisle looked unhappy. "I don't like the thought of the boy in pain, Alice. But we cannot make Edward's choice for him."

Alice shook her head and followed after Emmett, reaching for Jasper's hand. Her love's fingers laced with hers gratefully, and she squeezed, smiling at him. "I missed you," she said softly.

"Missed you too." Jasper smiled.

Alice held the door open for Emmett, and flickered inside the car the moment Jasper was inside, wrapping her arms around him. It was far enough; the moment they had left the building Jasper had relaxed, and now he stroked her hair as she tucked her head under his chin. They fit together so perfectly, as if they'd been made for each other; every time she was reminded of that she felt warm.

"Is Edward making the wrong choice?" Jasper asked above her. Emmett, about to close the door and head back inside to Rosalie, paused to hear her answer.

She sighed, and curled up in her love's lap, sad and worried.

"Yes."

* * *

"Jake, no!" As if from far away, he could hear his mate's horror. "Please – please, I never meant to hurt you – please don't cry –"

"Then don't do this!" Jake begged, looking up, desperate hope scrabbling for a foothold, for a chance to turn the clock back and erase the words from Edward's mouth. "Please, say it's a lie, a joke – say you d-don't m-mean it –"

He couldn't breathe. He could barely see Edward through the tears, but he could make out the tortured topaz eyes.

"I'm sorry," Edward whispered.

And the wolf howled, no, _screamed_ inside him as Edward turned and walked away.


	5. Chapter 4

"Jacob!"

"Oh my God, what happened to you?"

"Shit, man, his _feet!_ Where the hell did he walk from?"

"If he walked, why didn't he go as a wolf?"

"It doesn't matter now! Someone get a doctor!"

"What happened, Jacob?"

* * *

"It must have been the leech… Do you think he died after all?"

"No, that can't be it. Dr Cullen is back in the hospital, and Seth says they're all back at their old house…"

* * *

"I'm sorry Charlie, but I don't think Bells should come up here just now. Jake's not doing so good…"

* * *

"Stop being such a drama queen, Jacob, and get up off your ass already!"

"Give him a break, Leah! He'll talk when he's ready!"

"At this rate he's _never_ going to be ready! Did you think of that? What if he never gets better? What if he stays a vegetable for the rest of his life? What do we do then?"

* * *

"Jake. Jacob, come on son, you need to eat something…"

* * *

"He's stopped eating, Sam… God, I don't know what to do to help him, I don't even know what's wrong… No, he still hasn't said a word… It's been five weeks, Sam! I don't think he's going to come out of it on his own!"

* * *

"Jake, come on, Bella's worried sick about you… I thought you liked her? Everyone's so worried about you, son. Why won't you talk to us?"

* * *

"He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep, he still hasn't talked… It's like watching his mother die all over again, Sue. I know, I know the wolves are all strong, but he's not eating! How long can he keep that up before he gets sick just like a human? He's dying right in front of me and I can't do a thing to stop it!"

* * *

"Thank God. Sam? Can you help him?"

"I don't know. Possibly. I came here to tell you what we found out today – maybe it'll help us. Help Jacob."

"Don't hesitate with me, boy. I know all about his imprint, if that's what you're worrying about."

"I know. I told you Jake was going to Italy myself… I crossed the boundary today. With some of the others. I went to tell the Cullens that if Jake dies, we will treat it as a breach of the treaty. His death would be Edward's fault, and we were – are – ready to go to war over it."

"Is that wise, Sam…?"

"I don't care if it's wise, Billy. Jacob is a member of my pack and I will not, _cannot_ stand by and watch him die."

"…What did the Cullens say?"

"A few things, one of which makes it clear what has happened to Jacob. Edward pretended to return his feelings and then rejected him completely. The leech walked away from him in the Seattle airport, apparently. It seems Jacob walked back from there; that's why his feet were so cut up when we found him. But an imprinted rejecting the wolf… It's never happened before, which is why we didn't figure it out sooner; there are no stories about this. But we can only assume that this is a reaction to a rejected imprint. That's all that explains it."

"And what does that bastard vampire have to say for himself? For what he's done to my son!"

"Nothing but useless apologies. It took Embry and Paul to keep Leah from ripping his throat out."

"I always did like that girl… But what are we going to do?"

"I think I know what will wake Jacob up now."

* * *

"Jacob?" Jacob barely registered the creak and shift of someone shifting on his bed; he didn't blink, didn't look away from the cracks in his wall, didn't roll over and face Sam. He didn't notice. He didn't care.

Nothing mattered.

"Jacob, this has gone on long enough." His mind was blank, apathetic, empty. No thoughts. No feelings. Just one huge black hole, sucking inside anything that came near, anything that threatened to make him feel again. "I cannot even imagine your pain, and I won't pretend that I can. But why are you lying down and giving up? Why aren't you fighting?"

A spark in the darkness. Confusion, weak and fragile and liable to be snuffed out and destroyed at any moment. Fight? For what? How?

A hand on his shoulder. "Listen to me, Jake. I know what he did to you. But there is no reason you have to accept that. Why should he get the final say? This isn't the stubborn, passionate Jacob I know! _That_ Jacob would never show his belly to fate! That Jacob would fight tooth and claw for what he wanted, he would _make_ the world give him what he wanted!" Fire, passion, heat. "He would go out and _take_ his mate, not lie down and die because he was not given him."

Jacob heard an indrawn breath as he turned onto his back, looking up at Sam with dull, empty eyes. It was the first movement he'd made in a week, but he didn't care about that.

"He doesn't want me," he said thickly. His voice was raspy. Disuse? "He doesn't. Want me."

He dully noted that Sam was struggling to contain a wild burst of excitement and hope. "So _make_ him want you!" His alpha urged. "Teach him how! Show him why he should! Dear God, Jacob, he's a _leech_, of course he's an idiot! You have to convince him not to be!"

It was the first time he had ever heard Sam slur his mate, and it cut through his apathy like a knife – sliced through shell and hit flesh, and jerked a startled, rusty laugh out of his throat.

When he stopped, his stomach rumbled.

Sam smiled. "Come on," he said gently, standing up to pull Jacob to his feet in turn, insistently. "Let's get you something to eat, huh?"

Jake felt weak and shaky, as if his bones were water stretched over thin wires, and only Sam's grip kept him from falling down the stairs – but with each bite his alpha half-forced down his throat the hollowness contracted over his stomach, became smaller and smaller until it was closed and snug around his full belly.

He felt full – really full – for the first time since he'd watched Edward walk away through his tears.

Warm, and full, and as his body hastily began breaking down the meal – accustomed to his long fast by now, it was urgently digesting his meal and storing the resulting energy in case he was going to go without eating for weeks again – he felt languor flow blissfully through his limbs. His eyes grew heavy, as if tiny anchors weighed down each eyelash.

"Sam…" He forced out; he swayed in his chair. "I…"

Sam caught him as he fell sideways, and despite his massive bulk maneuvered his beta onto the sofa.

"It's alright, Jacob," he said quietly, relief painted across his face with big, wide strokes. "Just sleep for now. We'll talk more when you wake up."

Jacob's eyes fell closed to the sight of Billy wiping away a tear.


	6. Chapter 5

"Jacob? Jacob!"

Bella's surprise turned into happiness as she spotted her friend coming towards her in the school parking lot, and she tried to let go of Edward's hand so she could run to him. She hadn't seen Jacob for two months, not since Alice showed up on her doorstep and whisked the werewolf away; when Edward returned, and Jacob didn't. He stayed at the reservation, where Billy and the wolf pack kept visitors away.

He had saved her whole world. Despite his hatred for vampires and his determination that she should remain human, he had _saved _Edward. For that, if nothing else, she would always, always owe him.

But Edward held her hand tightly, didn't let go, and she glanced back at him, frustrated. "Edward, let me go! It's Jake!"

"I know who it is," he said quietly. His eyes were fixed over her head, at the werewolf swiftly approaching them. "Please, Bella. Please go inside. This is between Jacob and I."

"What?" Bella frowned, confused and suddenly uncertain. _What do they have to talk about? _Was it about what had happened in Volterra? Edward always deftly deflected any questions on the subject, and Alice – her one-time confidant – had turned steely and cold towards her. No matter how Bella tried, Alice refused to believe that Bella had made the jump for sport and wouldn't forgive her for it – not that it was easy to even talk to her, since she made a point of always being out of the house whenever Edward took her to visit.

In fact, all of the Cullens had turned tense and awkward around her now. Edward had assured her that it would ease up, that they had all been shaken by the incident with the Volturi, but it had been two months and they still showed no sign of warming to her. Carlisle and Esme were polite – always polite – but none of their children would so much as speak to her.

It hurt. She tried to listen to Edward's reassurances, but day by day it was becoming harder to believe him. What if she had ruined things irrevocably? What would she do if the rest of the Cullens didn't want her as part of their family? Would Edward be willing to leave them for her?

"Bella, please," Edward said again more urgently, but she shook her head and dug in her heels, stubborn.

He ground his teeth, but before she could ask him why he was so worked up… She saw Jacob properly for the first time.

If it was possible, he was even bigger than the last time she'd seen him, and – the word that suddenly came to mind was – _sleeker_. She had listened to Jacob's fears that he was less human than the other wolves, and she had heard some of the others in the pack talk about his skills with a strange mixture of joking and awe in their voices. But now Jacob looked as though he had taken all his old fears and thrown them away, or at least pushed them aside. He looked like a wolf in human skin, comfortable in his body in a subtle way she couldn't quite define but that made all the difference between seeing him as a teen lost in the world of the supernatural – and a man who belonged in it.

His eyes were dark, like the shadows under trees in the middle of the night, and he flicked a glance at her before staring intently at Edward.

The shock of that look almost pushed her back a step. No one had ever looked at her that way – that momentary glance had been so full of rage, disgust and _hatred_ – distilled, perfect _loathing_ – that it struck her like a blow.

"Jake," she gasped, but he ignored her.

Edward met his eyes, but her vampire looked pained. "Message delivered," he said quietly. "You should leave, Jacob."

It was Edward's turn to be ignored; once again, Jacob turned his gaze on Bella, and she flinched away from the burning weight of it.

"I'm here to warn you," Jake said coolly, and Edward stiffened beside her.

Despite her resolution not to look up, Bella did. "Warn me?" She asked, confused. She glanced at Edward for an explanation, but he was silent, staring over at the side of the car park. Tentatively, she looked up at Jacob – and his face might have been as controlled as a vampire's, but in his eyes… In his eyes she could see the horse-sized wolf he was at heart – and knew without a shadow of a doubt that the animal in him wanted her dead.

How? How could this happen? _Why?_ What had she done?

Jake nodded, expression hard and cold.

"Don't do this," Edward said suddenly. "Please, Jacob. It won't work."

Jacob turned his head and snarled. Low. Vicious. Wordless, but not empty of meaning. Bella could hear something in it, like pain and anger all mixed up together.

"Have you told her?"

"Told me what?" Bella demanded, glancing back and forth between them nervously. Why were they so tense around each other? Jacob had saved Edward's life. Shouldn't that have forged some kind of bond between them?

Jacob looked back at her. "I imprinted," he said bluntly.

Bella was confused. "That's great, Jake." She tried to say it brightly, but the leap between topics left her scrambling for balance. "Who is it? Do I know her? What's she like?"

She thought Edward might have cringed, but when she looked at him his face was a mask of smooth marble.

Jacob's mouth twisted. It might have been intended as a smirk, but it didn't reach his eyes and there wasn't much amusement in it. Still, it looked – wrong, on Jake's face.

"It's Edward, Bella," he told her, and she stared at him in incomprehension. "I imprinted on Edward. A long time ago, actually." He was talking to her, looking at her as if the vampire weren't right there in front of him. "He wants you, not me. But you know what?" He stepped closer, and Edward growled as Jacob crowded Bella but the werewolf continued to ignore him.

"I'm going to fight for him," Jacob whispered conspiratorially, right in her face, and, what? It didn't make sense. The words didn't fit together in her head. Jacob had been in love, or something close to it, with _her_ not so long ago. Now…he was saying…Edward? _Her_ Edward…? "And I'm going to fight dirty, for as long as it takes. And I will _win_, Bella. I am a thousand times better for him than you are. I won't break. My scent doesn't torture him when we kiss. I won't age, and I'm strong enough to be his equal." A look of disgust crossed his features. "And what the hell are you? A nobody. A nothing. Just another useless vampire groupie."

"That's _enough!_" Edward snarled, shoving Jacob away from her. "You've gone too far, Jacob! You have no right to say those things to her!"

"I have every right!" Jacob roared, and there were people looking, people watching. Bella didn't notice. Couldn't notice. Jacob's words were flying around and around inside her head, hammering into her deeper and deeper, and she couldn't think of anything beyond them. "_You're_ the one who walked away from _me_, Edward! No one said I had to walk away from you!"

"I'm saying it now," Edward hissed, and then he was up close in Jacob's face, teeth bared, and Jacob was half a head taller than him but Edward didn't for a moment look less frightening. "Walk away, Jacob. I. Don't. Want. You. That is _never_ going to change!"

Pain flickered over Jacob's face – there and then gone again as he snarled softly. "No." He smirked, that broken, bitter smirk that had hurt her heart just a few minutes ago. "What have I got to lose, Edward? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Everything that ever mattered to me… The sight of you took it all away. Dying at home is just the same as dying from failure, don't you think? At least if I try, I have a chance."

Edward hissed again with frustration. "There is no chance! You have no chance! I am sorry that you were hurt, Jake, but I am in love with Bella. _Not with you!_"

Jacob shrugged. "Yeah, well. Things change." He smirked again. "Be seeing you, Bells," he waved, taking a step back towards his bike. "You too, Edward."

Edward snarled, and Jake laughed as he kicked the motorcycle to life and vanished from the parking lot.

* * *

Bella couldn't stop thinking about the incident with Jacob all day. His words needled into her like knives, like splinters beneath her fingernails and worked deep into her skin.

_I am a thousand times better for him than you are._

Edward kissed her hair, stroking it where the moonlight touched it. "You're usually asleep by now," He murmured. "What are you thinking?"

What if Jacob was right? She wondered, barely hearing Edward's soft questions. It was strange, almost gross, to think of her (ex-)best friend with her boyfriend, but what if Jacob really _was_ better? What he'd said in the parking lot…

'_I won't break. My scent doesn't torture him…'_

'_My scent doesn't torture him when we kiss__.'_

She froze.

"Bella?" Concern, now – soft velvet concern as Edward noticed the tension in her fragile human body. "What's wrong?"

She chewed her lip, feeling sick, as if her stomach was being tied up in knots.

"Bella? Please talk to me, love." She could hear the worry in his voice.

"Did you." She wasn't sure how to say it. It sounded so stupid in her head! But Jacob… _When we kiss When we kiss When we kiss._ "Edward, did you kiss Jacob?"

Through the blankets wrapped around her to protect her from his cold, she felt Edward go still. Her heart was pounding, and she knew he could hear it too.

"Yes," he said finally, and she sucked in a hurt little gasp. "Bella, wait, listen to me! It was not something I wanted to do, I promise you. But I had to –"

"You had to _kiss _him_?_" Bella demanded, scrambling out of the blankets and off the bed so that she could get away from him. If she smacked him, it would only hurt her hand. But if she didn't hit him, she was going to start crying. Why was she surprised? Edward had _left _her. She hadn't been good enough to keep him here the first time. Every moment of that encounter was printed in bold on her memory; _ 'You don't belong in my world, Bella. You're not good for me…'_

But Jacob would belong. Jacob would be good for Edward. They could _kiss_ and _Jacob_ wouldn't get hurt because _his_ blood didn't make Edward want to rip his throat out. Edward could lose control around Jake, and he wouldn't have to leave Jacob behind on hunting trips. _Jacob_ wouldn't tear the Cullens apart with a damn p-paper cut –

"Bella, it was to save his life."

She stopped crying. (When had she started? Her face was wet and her nose was running and Jacob was sort-of-beautiful, even more so now that he was a werewolf – a fairy-tale creature – she shouldn't be crying, crying made her ugly and Edward would want Jacob because he wasn't even a little bit ugly).

"W-what?" She managed. "What are you talking about?"

Slowly, Edward sat up on the bed, watching her anxiously. "The Volturi have very strict rules about werewolves, Bella. If any vampire finds one, or better yet a pack of them, they are to report it to the guard, who come to collect." He hesitated, as if uncertain how much to tell her. "Bella, the Volturi…torture them. They are broken down and collared, turned into Aro's guard dogs. If…If we hadn't been able to convince them that Jacob was my mate, they would have taken him. And I couldn't let them do that."

Bella chewed her lip. What Edward was saying made sense. Logically, her mind accepted it as perfectly reasonable – but her stomach still felt tight and sore, and unused adrenalin was making her feel nauseous. "Why couldn't Alice have been his mate?"

Edward frowned at her. "Because a Volturi representative always attends important vampire weddings. Aro is very fond of Carlisle, Bella, and even if he weren't my family is one of the largest and strongest in the world, bar the Volturi themselves. Aro came himself to Carlisle and Esme's first wedding, you know. I think it was Felix who attended Alice and Jasper's. The Volturi were already well aware that Alice was in love with someone."

"B-but…" _But you're mine_, she wanted to say. _You're supposed to be mine now. _Or was he? What if he left again? Maybe the last few weeks had been nothing but guilt for him. She knew all too well how strongly he felt guilt, how heavy a weight it could be on his shoulders.

Doubts gnawed at her.

Edward's face softened. "Bella, I love you. I am not going to leave you. I promise you; I will _never_ leave you again."

He held his arms out to her. She only hesitated a moment before she ran into them. The moment she did he embraced her, his arms as hard and strong as those of a marble statue; solid and comforting, reassuring, and she buried her face in his shirt.

She'd always felt so safe in his arms. Ever since he'd snapped a bough like a twig and thrown it across their clearing – no, before that; ever since he had appeared at her side and stopped Tyler's van, he had been her protector, her guardian angel. Strong and unbreakable and standing unflinching against anything that might ever try to hurt her.

But now… Now the pain came from him, not the world, and his embrace didn't reassure her at all.

"You said that before," she whispered. "And you still left."

He stiffened.

"Bella…" Gently, he tilted her head back with cool fingers under her chin, and she didn't resist as he coaxed her to look up and meet his eyes. They were soft, warm, golden. "What will it take to convince you?"

"Change me."

Edward blanched, and for a second Bella wasn't sure why. She hadn't said that out loud, had she?

"Bella… You know why I can't do that."

So she _had_ said it out loud. But now that she had – the more she thought about it, the more perfect a solution it seemed. She felt all the problems facing them dissolve, felt a new life – her dream life – unfolding in her mind like a flower, excitement swelling within her. "But Edward, it's perfect! Don't you see? If you change me, Jacob can't separate us!"

His expression darkened. "That is not an issue," he said angrily. "Jacob is not a possible future for me, Bella. I love _you_, not him. And nothing he does can ever change that."

"You don't know that," she insisted. It was so perfect, such an elegant, all-encompassing solution – it would fix everything! There had to be some way of convincing him! "I thought…"

He gazed at her warily. "You thought…?" He prompted.

She blinked hard, feeling that burst of hope start to fade. But what if there wasn't? She had never found an argument to sway Edward before, and she didn't have anything new now. Why would he change his mind?

"Bella?" Edward's voice had turned worried, almost horrified. "Are you crying?"

She sniffled, reaching up to wipe away the tell-tale tears gathering in her eyes. "No," she said weakly. She wasn't good enough to make him change his mind. Of course she wasn't. Why would he want to be saddled with her forever? _That_ was the real reason he didn't want to turn her.

Cold hands cupped her face. "Bella, love, please. Why are you crying?" She heard frustration lacing his concern – the frustration of being unable to hear her thoughts. "Don't you understand? How can I take your soul from you? After spending so long trying not to be a monster, you want me to become one?"

She pushed his hands away, crying in earnest now. She couldn't stop. "You th-think ensuring we're together forever makes you a m-monster?"

"What? No!" Edward's hands fluttered helplessly around her face, obviously unsure whether she would let him touch her or not. "No, Bella! You know that's not what I meant at all!"

"What about when I d-die?" She demanded, trying to dash the damn tears away. She couldn't cry, dammit – she couldn't argue if she was crying, she needed to keep it together so that she could form the perfect logical argument that he couldn't refute. "What are you going to do then? _Die? _Go to the Volt-turi? Again?" Her heart spasmed in her throat at the thought, at the _memory_ of watching Alice and Jacob run out the door while she was left behind helpless.

If she was a vampire, she couldn't be left behind. Not ever. If she was a vampire, _she_ could have saved Edward, and this mess with Jacob would never have happened.

Edward's face seemed to crumble as she looked up at it – and then it shuttered, and he dropped his hands from her hair.

"It won't matter then," he murmured. "You won't be there to hurt."

She smacked him. She should have known better, but it was instinct and she smacked him.

He didn't even pretend to react, and she rubbed her palm, fuming. At least she hadn't hit him hard. She would only have hurt _herself_, not him. Never him.

Another thing that would change if she was a vampire.

"It _does_ matter!" She protested. "What if you're right, and vampires don't have souls? I'll die, and _you'll_go to the Volturi, _you'll_ be dead. You w-won't exist, you won't care." She shifted up onto her knees, cupping Edward's face to try and force him to look at her. "What about me, Edward? How can I exist without you? I don't want to spend eternity without you, even if it is eternity in Heaven. I can't!" He _had_ to listen, damn it all! He _had _to! "I can't do that again! I can't exist believing you don't, that I'll never see you again!"

"Bella," he murmured, but she interrupted. "No, Edward! No! I can't! I can't do that again!"

She had to become a vampire, she had to! The long months, stretched out in her memory like tanned leather on wooden frames, were still too fresh, too painful, too easy to remember. It couldn't happen again! She couldn't feel that pain again – this time she'd _die!_

Only, she would already be dead. She would be in Heaven, and Edward would be dead, and gone _forever_, and she would _never_ be able to escape that pain.

"Hush, Bella, hush," Edward crooned, and only the icy touch of his hands was enough to wake her from her sobs, make her realise that she was curled up against his chest and crying her heart out. "Bella, please, listen to me love. Listen."

He kept stroking her hair, gentling her as her wracking sobs gradually became weak little sniffles, and his smile was so tender it almost set her off again.

"Bella, this is not just my choice to make. Or yours," he added, reading the wild burst of hope in her eyes. "If I turn you, you'll be a Cullen. Forever. You will be my family's responsibility until you are past the newborn stage. You will have to keep the secret to protect all of us. We will teach you, feed you, clothe you, take care of you. And everything you do will reflect on us, in the eyes of the human world and the vampire one."

She stared at him through blurred vision, not understanding.

He sighed. "It's not my choice alone," he repeated gently. "I have to ask my family what they think. Technically, Bella, I really need Carlisle's permission. He's my father… And I suppose, by vampire standards, the leader of our coven."

'_I have to ask my family.'_ Bella's heart skipped a beat.

"But they don't like me," she whispered. "Alice… Jasper…" She struggled not to start crying again. If the vote depended on _them_, she was sure Edward would refuse.

What would she do then?

Edward stroked her cheeks lovingly. "Don't be ridiculous, Bella," he said softly. "They love you. They all do."

She watched him doubtfully.

"It's true," he insisted. "Come." There was a sudden breeze, and in an instant she was in his arms and her vampire boyfriend had leapt from the window, landing lightly on the grass outside as her arms clung to him, heart pounding at the suddenness of it. "We'll go see them now."

* * *

"No, Alice," Edward said when he saw her leaving. "Everyone needs to hear this."

Turning, Alice crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at the human girl tucked under her brother's arm. _You know I won't be around her, Edward._

Confusingly, Edward smiled at her, and in an instant she Saw it all.

_Bella, standing in a darkened street that Alice doesn't recognise. The neon of the streetlights glitter over marble-pale skin and when she steps into the yellow pool on the pavement, her eyes are as red as rubies, red as blood. _

_Bella plucking human children from their beds, slipping through white-washed window frames into rooms decorated with Thomas the Tank Engine and Barbie wallpaper… Covering their mouths as her neat white teeth tear their throats out… The blood spraying everywhere, soaking her black cocktail dress and her hair and splashing all over her vampire-perfect face. _

_Bella, holding Edward's hand as the two of them walk into the Volturi's throne room. She's smiling, leading Alice's brother forward – and Edward's eyes are red, red as poppies for remembering what used to be. _

Alice stared at Edward, and his expression mirrored hers for horror.

"You can't do it, Edward!" She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth, almost as if she were expecting to scream. "She'll be a monster!" Killing _children?_ She had never heard of a vampire who did that, even the solitary hunters whose morals were as few as diamonds in a coal mine. She accepted that most vampires – vampires who hadn't met Carlisle – genuinely didn't _know_ there was another way to live. But there were silent, unwritten codes of honor in the vampire world – like leaving pregnant women and children alone.

And if Bella were turned, _she_ would know full well that vampires could survive without human blood.

"She'll be a monster," she whispered, staring at Bella with sickened horror. _And she'll give you to the Volturi. _

Everyone was looking at them, glancing back and forth between Alice and Edward in unabashed confusion. No doubt Edward could hear them all questioning what was going on, but he didn't seem able to take his eyes away from Alice, from the pictures in her mind.

"The future changes," he whispered back, weak and soft. His arm was so tightly wrapped around Bella's shoulders that she was squirming, biting her lip with pain flickering across her face. Edward didn't notice. "It's not set."

Alice glared at him. _This isn't my hate, Edward!_ She shouted silently. _This is what I See. If she is changed by a Cullen, she will turn into a monster. I don't know how or why, but she will. And somehow, she'll convince you to join the Volturi with her. _

"Alice?" Jasper laced their fingers together, and she looked up at him. Of course he could feel their disgust and horror, Alice's hate and Edward's disbelieving sorrow. "What's happening?"

She glanced at Bella – and stepped back, into the circle of Jasper's arms that were waiting for her as if choreographed.

"I saw Bella as a vampire," she said quietly – but not so quiet that a room full of vampires couldn't hear her easily. "A child-killer. She and Edward were with the Volturi."

No one gasped, but no one could do 'frozen' like a room full of shocked vampires.

"I came here to ask you to decide the matter of Bella's humanity," Edward said softly after a long, long pause. "But I can hear how the die has cast."

His voice was hollow, and Bella glanced up at him. Alice wasn't petty enough to feel pleasure at the pain in the girl's eyes, but the seer was relieved nonetheless. Relieved and scared.

What was missing? Was it only the pressures and hungers and thirst of being a newborn that would turn Bella into something monstrous, or was it there in her already? Was there violence under Bella's desperate pleading as she slowly took in the room's atmosphere, the numb, shocked expressions of the various Cullens? Was there fury under the sorrow and crushing disappointment? Was there the threat of vengeance beneath her heart-wrenching begging for Edward to look at her, talk to her, don't do this!

What kind of creature had they been harboring at their breast?

"Let me take you home, Bella," Edward murmured, and his eyes _did_ hurt Alice, the painful confusion and heart-rending agony in them when he looked at Bella, his face numb and masked as though he couldn't see her beating her fists against his chest. "Charlie might notice you're not in your bed."

"No!" Bella shouted, and there were tears streaming down her face, her hair as wild as a storm as she struggled against Edward's grasp on her shoulder. He didn't mean to hurt her, Alice was certain. It was just that a blow like this made it hard to focus and control your own strength. "No, Edward, no! They didn't vote! They – they didn't –"

"Bella," Edward said softly, low enough that Bella might believe that the rest of the room couldn't hear him, "They did. They don't want you."

"You don't know that!" Bella said desperately. "I'm – I'm –"

Alice started a little as Jasper's embrace tightened around her, and his chest rumbled against her back as he snarled.

"You are a disaster waiting to happen," he hissed through his teeth at her. Alice found his hand where it curled around her waist and squeezed it gently; she knew how protective he felt of their coven, the family that had welcomed them both with open arms. His experience as a military leader, as a soldier, had never completely left him, and she knew he would never hesitate to step between his family and a threat. "You brought Edward happiness, only to nearly kill him with your selfishness. You cannot be changed which means that, someday, you will die, and your loss will destroy him. Get away from our family, Bella Swan, and don't ever come back."

* * *

"Jasper," Edward murmured beside her, but Bella barely heard him. She couldn't take her eyes away from the twisted snarl of Jasper's face; in the dim light he looked like a creature with claws and fangs that lived in the dark nightmares of the world. He looked like a vampire.

"B-but…" She turned to the others, appealing for their intervention, but not one of them stepped forward. Emmett had his arm around Rosalie, his eyes uncharacteristically cool. Rosalie leaned into him, her expression blank – not smug or pleased, as Bella had expected, but apathetic. Esme hid her face in her husband's shirt rather than meet her gaze.

Carlisle…Her heart leapt as he hesitated, beating like a hummingbird in her chest – but he, too, shook his head.

"Die as a mortal or join the Volturi, you will destroy my son," he said softly. "I cannot countenance it."

She stared at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. Not just the words, but the crash of her whole world coming down around her. It sounded like breaking glass and thunder.

Edward's hand alighted on her shoulder, no doubt urging her to leave again, but Bella's blurred vision fell on Alice, tucked into Jasper's arms like a doll.

"You!" She yelled. "This is all _your _fault!"

What she was planning to do she didn't know, but she ran away from Edward's hand and towards Alice, blind fury and heartbreak and despair riding her viciously. She wanted to claw the girl's eyes out, shave her head, prick holes in her condoms; all the nasty, horrible, bitchy things she'd heard about but never done she wanted to do to Alice now, wanted to _hurt_ her, make her hurt the way she, Bella, was hurting –

But then Jasper was there, crouched low and snarling and dark gold eyes blazing with murder, appearing in front of her so suddenly that Bella cried out and fell backwards, a shooting pain whipping up her spine as she landed badly, and anger transformed in an instant to sheer, bone-chilling terror as Jasper stalked closer, baring his teeth so that the venom on them gleamed in the light, and despite herself she felt a little flicker of hope – maybe he wouldn't kill her, maybe she would transform if he bit her…

As if he'd heard the thought, Edward dived over her, crashing into his brother and sending him to the floor – and that was all she saw before they began moving too fast for her to make out anything more than vague blurred forms and colours, Edward's shirt and Jasper's hair. And over it all, the animal snarling like rocks crashing together at the base of a waterfall, both of them writhing, struggling, lashing out at each other right there in the middle of the floor, flipping over and over –

"STOP!"

The two vampires froze like statues. It was disorientating; neither of them were panting, the way television had conditioned Bella to expect.

Carlisle was still holding Esme, but his amber eyes, usually so soft and warm, burned.

"Take her home, Edward," he ordered, his melodic voice rumbling with anger. "And then we will talk as a family." His eyes glittered as they pierced her, pinned her in place as surely as a sword. "But don't _ever_ bring her into our home again. She is not welcome."

Edward seemed as stunned as she was as Jasper slowly climbed off of him, retreating to stand by Alice at the other side of the room.

"Carlisle…" Edward whispered.

His father shook his head. "I cannot find it in me to damn her for actions she had not yet undertaken," he said softly. "But for attempting to attack one of my own – regardless of how useless an attempt it would have been… That, son, I cannot forgive."

Slowly, Edward pushed himself up from the ground.

"Edward…?" Bella bit her lip. He looked…

"I have to take you home, Bella." He said tonelessly.

"But…"

Edward raised his head, and she saw his eyes for the first time.

She shut up.

Without another word, he crossed the floor to her and took her hand. Silently, unsure and shaken, she followed the tug of his hold as the adrenalin hit his stomach.

As they left the room, Edward muttered something, too low and quick for her to hear it, and she didn't dare ask him what he'd said.

* * *

Emmett frowned at Edward's retreating back. "What did you ask him, Alice?"

She felt a strange mixture of sadness, relief, and quiet hope as she nuzzled into Jasper's returned embrace. "I asked why he believed me now, when he didn't about Jacob," she said softly.

_I don't bet against you anymore._

* * *

"Will you pick me up for school tomorrow?" Bella asked hesitantly as Edward drew up outside Charlie's house.

Edward stared at the steering wheel. "I don't think so, Bella," he said finally. "I have some thinking to do before I see you again."

Bella's heart stuttered. "Are you…breaking up with me?" She whispered.

Edward sighed. "No," he said softly. "But I have to talk to my family, Bella. Tonight…complicates things."

_Why? _Bella wondered desperately. He hadn't cared before, last year when they had started going out. When they had entered a relationship openly. His family had been angry with him then, but he hadn't cared. Not _then_. What was so different now? His feelings? Had Edward's feelings about her changed, was that why he was unwilling to defy his family?

"We don't need them," she whispered.

Edward's head snapped up to look at her, gold eyes blazing. "Excuse me?"

_Be strong. Be strong_, she told herself, swallowing hard. "We don't…We don't need them," she repeated, louder now. "We can run away together. Just us. You can turn me, and we can be together –"

"_No_." Edward's snarl rolled through the car like a storm, a flash of thunder, and Bella jerked back against her seat, away from Edward's bared teeth as her heart pounded like a drum. "Abandon my family? Are you truly asking me to consider that as an option? After what you tried to do to Alice?"

At the mention of his sister, Bella's fear hardened into anger, gave her the strength to stand up to him. "You were ready to die when you thought I was dead, but you won't go away with me?"

Edward recoiled as if he'd been slapped. The incredulous beginning of anger melted away, leaving his eyes wide and soft with shock, with pain.

"How can you use that in an argument?" He whispered.

Instantly, guilt threatened to swamp her, and Bella shifted closer and cupped Edward's cold face between her palms, holding tight when he tried to turn away. He could have broken her hold in a moment, but he didn't – maybe because he saw the tears in her eyes and knew she was sorry.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, because he couldn't hear her thoughts and she had to say it, had to make sure he _knew_. "Edward, I'm _sorry_."

"Do you have any idea what I went through?" He breathed, leaning his forehead against hers. "I thought you were _dead_. The pain…" He raised his hands and laid them over hers, sandwiching hers between his and his face. He was so cold. "If I'd been alive, it would have killed me."

"I know, I know and I'm so sorry, Edward… So sorry…" She leaned forward a little more to press light, fleeting kisses over his cheeks, brushing her lips against his marble skin. "But can't you see? If you leave me human, eventually you'll have to go through that again."

"Bella, please…" He started to pull away. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

She blinked back her tears as he clasped her wrists and lowered her hands into her lap. "You should go in," he continued, his voice soft. "You have school tomorrow."

"You won't be there." She didn't look at him.

Slowly, he shook his head. "But I'll be back for Monday," he promised.

She nodded numbly. "Monday," she repeated. She reclaimed her hands and turned away, fumbling for the door. "I'll…I'll see you then."

"Bella." She turned back, swallowing –

And her hands tangled in Edward's hair as his glass-smooth lips found hers.

He smelled so delicious. His hands cupping her face held her so tenderly, so lovingly, and his mouth felt so _right_ against hers. The touch made her body burn and shine like a star – how could he not want this forever? For ever and ever?

But eventually, he pushed her gently away, as he always did.

At least he was smiling now.

"Good night," he said softly, his eyes burnished with quiet adoration that loosened the knot in her chest a little.

"Good night," she murmured, managing to pull out a weak smile. "I'll see you Monday." She stole another quick kiss and slipped out of the car. "I love you," she added quietly, closing the car door. She knew he could hear her.

_I love you too,_ he mouthed through the windscreen.

She tried to smile as she went into the house.

* * *

But she couldn't sleep. Bella stared at the ceiling of her room for what felt like hours, but she may as well have been a vampire already – sleep wouldn't come. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Jasper's face contorted in a snarl, or Edward's numb, blank eyes. Or the horror in the Cullens' faces as they stared at her – horror for something she hadn't even done.

It was hard not to be angry. Bella rolled onto her back and glared at the ceiling, chewing it over. _She hadn't done anything_. That was the cold, hard fact of the matter. They'd rejected her over a possibility, a maybe – not because of something she'd said or done or some unfavorable facet of her personality. They hadn't deemed her unworthy because of something _real_.

And they had convinced her Edward. They had _convinced Edward_ not to turn her.

They were taking him away from her. That was what it came down to, wasn't it? His family didn't want them to be together. Carlisle didn't want her in his house. Alice would do anything she could to turn Edward against her. And Edward wouldn't leave his family for her.

Bella blinked hard, feeling the old wounds waver, the scars threatening to break open again. What would she do if she lost Edward again? How could she live without him? After losing him once before, what would it do to her?

She should have been able to imagine life without him – she'd already gone through it once before. But she couldn't. When she tried, a great blank space opened up inside her mind.

_I can't live through it twice._ Hadn't she told Edward as much? Didn't he care?

_He does care,_ she consoled herself. _He cares so much. He loves me. _He just…needed someone to save him from his mistakes. Again. Just like what had happened in Volterra.

_Jacob was the one who saved him in Volterra, not me._ Bella thought, pulling the blankets tighter around herself. Jacob had saved the day and proved his worth – proved his eligibility as Edward's partner. Proved that he was fast enough, strong enough, good enough…

_I need to be faster. Stronger. BETTER. _

_I need to be a vampire. But how? If Edward won't…How can I do it?_


	7. Chapter 6

"JACOB EPHARIM BLACK!"

The roar rang through the forest, bouncing off the trees furiously so that boughs shook and trembled, threatening to break. Nothing human could have shouted so loudly, and Jacob hoped with amusement that there were no stray hikers around to hear.

"You called?" He asked insolently as he stepped out of the trees, the smell of magic and wolf lingering on his skin from his change.

He lifted his chin a little as Edward spun around to face him – and the werewolf's breath caught in his throat as he forgot his bravado in an instant.

Jake hadn't seen any of the vampires but Alice and Jasper since the confrontation in the parking lot of Forks High. He had only really seen Edward a handful of times ever. Some of those memories were incredibly precious to him – like their kiss – but he had _never _seen the vampire like this.

Edward was _glorious_. He was always beautiful, a marble Adonis, but now his nostrils were flared and his teeth bared and his golden eyes were blazing like twin suns, and the sight of him made Jacob's blood quicken and burn, made him want to wrestle his mate to the ground and devour him whole.

The vampire's face flickered, transformed briefly into shock, before he snarled. "Can't you keep your thoughts to yourself?" He hissed.

Oh, right. Jacob had spent nights imagining what he could do with Edward's telepathy – the tricks and games he could play to make his mate laugh or squirm – but somehow, face to face, it was easy to forget about. Even in the midst of a magical world, it was too easy to forget that magics that weren't yours existed.

Edward was a magic that belonged to Jake. Jacob couldn't forget about _him_.

Edward snarled again. "I do _not_ belong to you!" His eyes were blazing again, and Jacob couldn't stop staring at them. It would be so easy to fall into the ocean of warm honey there – so easy to drown in it…

"You're so beautiful," he said softly, feeling his heart clench painfully. Because Edward was right – he _wasn't_ Jake's. Not really. And Jacob wanted him so badly.

_He's not mine – yet._

Edward stared at him, his anger gone soft and confused and hesitant, as if he was unsure of the compliment.

Was it possible that he didn't know what he looked like?

"…Thank you," Edward said finally. His expression flickered into a mask, and whatever vulnerability Jacob thought he had seen in his face was gone.

_He doesn't really know how to deal with me, _Jacob thought. _He doesn't know how to act with someone who loves him. Not when he doesn't love them back. _

The thought hurt.

"Why did you call me?" Jacob asked to distract them both. He faked a grin. "I think they heard you in Canada."

Edward's eyes hardened; Jacob expected him to shout or snarl again, but instead he looked away, his jaw tight. As if he didn't want to shout anymore; as if Jacob's soft words had diffused his fury. Jacob's heart pounded suddenly, a surge of something hot and bright trying to rise in him even as he held it back, struggling to be realistic. _Am I getting through to him? Can't he hate me, when he feels what I'm feeling? _

_No. If that worked, he would never have walked away from me in the airport._

"Bella's gone."

Edward's whisper yanked Jake out of his thoughts. "What?"

Edward's eyes were beautiful. When they were soft with love – even fake love – they turned Jacob's heart into melted chocolate. Fluttering closed with pleasure, they sent hot spikes of desire into the pit of his stomach. Blazing with fury, Jacob's wolf shivered with delight and predatory hunger, seeing his equal in strength, his mate.

But there was so much pain and heartbreak and loss in them when he looked up at Jake that the werewolf felt the world spinning on its axis.

"Bella's gone," Edward repeated, and his voice caught on the word _gone_. He didn't quite stutter. "Charlie says she left yesterday morning."

He should be delighted. Jacob should be _exhilarated_, crowing with happiness. But that reaction didn't even occur to him, not with the naked agony screaming in Edward's eyes. And now that Jake was looking, he saw that Edward's shirt had been done up wrong, and he was barefoot. All of the Cullens were so careful with their appearance, with their façade of humanity. None of them would ever disappear into the woods without shoes, just in case some stray human saw them and noticed.

Edward was falling apart, and Jacob couldn't even find it in himself to be curious as to why the vampire had come to him.

"God Edward, I'm so sorry," Jacob breathed, genuine regret colouring his voice. He might want Bella dead, but he would never in a million years harm a hair on the girl's head. Not when it would hurt Edward.

He didn't think – he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his mate.

Edward stiffened the moment Jake's arms embraced him, not moving his arms from his sides. Jake couldn't make himself regret the gesture, couldn't stop himself from trying to offer some comfort even as he was sure that the vampire would pull away instantly.

But he didn't. A tremor rippled down Edward's spine as the heat of Jacob's bare arms melted through the vampire's shirt. "Don't," Edward whispered. "Please. Not now. I can't do this now."

Jacob felt his eyes water as guilt swirled through his gut. _I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt anyone…Especially not you. _"Relax," he said softly. "This isn't a sex thing. This is just…me being here for you. Just for a minute." He resisted the urge to bury his face in Edward's hair, or stroke his mate's back. That was too much, and not what Edward needed right now.

"Just for a minute," Jake whispered.

He felt Edward shudder again, almost like a machine threatening to come apart – and then the vampire collapsed into his arms with a sob, the exact same heart-rending sound Jacob had heard over the phone all those months ago.

Had watching Edward walk away hurt? Because it felt like nothing to this. Being left in the airport had hurt only him – but hearing Edward cry, feeling him shake and sob his heart out against Jake's chest…This was his mate's pain, and it was infinitely worse. It didn't even matter that he was crying over Bella, over someone else. Jacob didn't _care_ – he just wanted Edward's pain to stop, to _end_. His heart felt too large and too hot in his chest, as if it were growing at a rapid pace inside him, ready to burst and erupt into flames. His wolf snarled and paced inside his head, eager to hunt Bella down and rip her apart for hurting Edward like this; he was just as desperate to drag her back and glue her to his mate's side so she could never leave again. Anything, _anything_ that could make it better, that could make it _stop_…

_I take it back, I won't pursue you, won't fight her for you,_ he babbled in his head, making pacts with God and destiny and any God or Goddess or spirit he could think of in exchange for an end to his mate's tears. _She can have you if that's what you want, I'm sorry, I'll go bring her back, I'll get the whole pack to help me track her down, I promise, God, please don't cry…_

"Please don't cry," Jake whispered helplessly, over and over. "It's okay, it'll be okay, Edward, I promise, please don't cry…" He tightened his arms, murmuring into Edward's coppery-gold hair, any kind of reassurance that sprang to mind. His chest wasn't getting wet; Edward wasn't really crying. A vampire's body could no more produce tears than it could sleep, and for some reason that made Jacob's heart twist all the more.

"Cante' waste' hoksila," he murmured, the words coming to him from the deepest depths of his memory and spilling into the air, insisting that they be spoken. Edward stilled in Jacob's arms, listening, not breathing. "Ake istimba, hanhepi kin waste'…" His voice grew stronger as his mate calmed. Jake couldn't really sing, but he tried, repeating the words over and over in the soft, rhythmic chant that his mother had used to use to get him to sleep.

"That's not Quileute," Edward said quietly when Jacob let his voice trail off. Neither the vampire nor the werewolf made any attempt to move.

"My mom was Lakota," Jacob answered just as low. "She was a transfer student in Seattle when she met my dad." He reached up to card his fingers gently through Edward's hair, not really thinking about it, just reveling in the sensation. "She used to sing to me and my sisters."

The sky was overcast, thick and dark with the promise of rain. Jacob mourned the loss of a chance to see Edward shine like a star again.

His mate stiffened in his grasp – and then as Jacob knew he would Edward gently disentangled himself from Jacob's arms.

His arms ached, but Jake let him go.

"I can't do this," Edward said quietly. "Especially not now."

_Because of Bella._ Jacob swallowed the hurt and the anger, remembering his silent promises.

"I can go get her," he said softly, watching Edward's face. The words were like curled up hedgehogs in his throat, tearing the inside of his neck to shreds, but he forced them out anyway. "Wherever she is. If it's somewhere you can't go."

Edward's eyes widened. "I wouldn't dream of holding you to those promises, Jacob. You were…desperate." He smiled a little. "I have tried the same bargaining before. I don't think that God will accept a desperate man. It is unfair to expect someone to hold to it."

"I'd rather go away and find her than see you like that again."

Edward stared at him, and Jake folded his arms over his chest defiantly, daring Edward to contradict him.

"…You really mean that." Edward's eyes widened, and he took a step back, disbelief and shock written all over his face. "Even though you want me for yourself, you would do that."

Jacob growled with frustration. "I don't _want you for myself._ It's not about possession!" Okay, maybe it was, a little bit – but that was just the instincts of his wolf. Something separate from the sheer _love _that he felt for this man in front of him. "I want you to be _happy_, Edward, I would do _anything_ to make you happy. The only reason I want you to be with me is because I _know_ I could make you happier than –"

He'd lost it. Whatever flicker had been in the vampire's gaze, whatever small seedling he'd managed to plant in Edward's thoughts, he'd destroyed it. Edward's eyes had been honey; now they were amber, hard and cold.

"Don't say it," he warned, his voice chilling. But it was too late; the thought was there in Jacob's head, loud and clear.

_I know I could make you happier than she could._

Jake stepped forward, and it was almost funny how Edward stepped back to keep them apart, as if he didn't want to risk Jacob trying to hold him again. It would have been funny, if it hadn't hurt so much. "You know it's true," Jake insisted, and Edward growled but he ignored it. "Bella told me what her blood does to you, Edward. Do you know what werewolves call that? _Perfect prey_. You can't hear her thoughts because it's her only defense against the predator she was born for!"

"I won't listen to this," Edward hissed, his hands fisting. "You know _nothing_ about Bella! And you know nothing about me! You –"

"Every vampire has a specific blood strain that will increase their powers beyond belief," Jacob continued, raising his voice even as Edward turned away. "Ten or a dozen humans in the world whose blood will permanently strengthen you, Edward, a dozen who have a defense against you no one else does in a pathetic attempt to protect themselves from you. Don't tell me you don't know it!

"She's not your soulmate, Edward, she's your _dessert!_"

In Volterra, he hadn't seen Edward move; he had been flung into the wall before he could react. Because he hadn't been expecting an attack, because concern for his mate had overridden his instincts to protect them both.

Jacob had grown up in the two months since then. And he and his wolf weren't separate any more. He had made a mistake by saving Bella's life. He would never ignore his wolf again.

So when Edward snarled and flew at him, he was ready. Jake ducked and caught his mate around the waist, stepping aside and throwing his weight behind the vampire's momentum so that Edward tumbled into the ground instead of into Jake.

Instantly Edward was up and leapt for him again; Jake stepped aside at the last possible moment and sprang after the vampire when he passed, pouncing and pinning Edward on his stomach in the grass. Jake almost grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, the way he would have with Paul or Embry, but when he realised what he was making to do he couldn't do it. Couldn't deliberately hurt Edward like that, even to restrain him.

When Edward tried to shove him off, a growl ripped through Jake's teeth before he could stop himself, and he curled a hand around the back of Edward's neck and pushed down. Not hard enough to grind Edward's face into the dirt, but he put his weight into it and held the vampire down.

Edward froze.

He wasn't breathing, but Jake was. Not panting – this wasn't close to a workout for a werewolf and he wasn't out of breath – but he was slowly becoming aware that he and Edward were close, so close, and touching down the entire length of their bodies. Jake was only wearing shorts – Edward's snowy coolness seeped into him from his legs up to his chest, and just like before it felt like relief, like an icepack during a fever or a cold drink after traversing the Sahara. Like something beautiful and delicious and necessary.

And he would have been lying if he claimed that having Edward pinned didn't thrill him right down to his core.

Beneath him – against him – Edward shuddered and twisted; the movement sent sparks careening over Jacob's skin. "Release me," Edward ordered hoarsely. "_Now_, Jacob."

Jacob nuzzled the spot where Edward's throat melted into his shoulder. The stardust scent was so strong there, heady like a perfume. But it was different now, had never been like this before. It was richer, muskier; Jacob brushed his lips open-mouthed over where Edward's pulse would have been if he'd had one, trying to breathe it in, trying to work out what was different and why it made desire coil hot and golden in his belly, sparking through his veins like lightening. "Why?" He murmured, and the sound of his voice startled him; it had gone low and husky. A wolf's voice.

Edward still wasn't breathing. It made his velvet voice sound hoarse. "Why what?"

_Why do you want me to stop? Why do you smell like this? _He scraped Edward's shoulder with his teeth and Edward made a choked sound in his throat, something rough and strangled, and Jacob loved it, loved the cool smoothness of the vampire under his tongue, loved the taste, loved the scent that grew stronger as Jake wrapped an arm around Edward's waist. It was like catnip. Wolfnip.

"Let go of me, Jacob," Edward said roughly, but Edward didn't want to be let go. His hand was curled around Jake's wrist, holding it around him; his head was tilted to give Jacob access to his neck and he was breathing, slow and deep as if he had to focus on each breath like a mantra or risk falling apart.

Jacob took his hand away from Edward's neck and stroked his other thumb back and forth over Edward's abdomen through his shirt. "Why?" He asked again, nuzzling the back of his mate's neck; Edward hung his head, panting, tense skin shivering under Jacob's lips. "I won't do anything you don't want me to, Edward. You've told me to let you go, but you haven't told me to stop. We both know you could throw me off and run if you wanted. Why haven't you?"

The only sound was their breathing; his harsher, and Edward's deliberately slow but occasionally stuttering.

Jacob kissed the soft down of Edward's hair where it met the back of his neck, where the skin was soft and sensitive. "Or maybe you're afraid that you can't," he murmured. "Maybe you think that you can't fight me off. And maybe not having to be afraid of hurting me would be such a relief. Maybe not having to be the strong one would feel so good. I think you're afraid to find out, Edward."

He kissed the back of Edward's neck. "I think you don't want me to stop."

Edward's fingers were leaving deep trenches in the dirt where they had clawed into the ground, and he didn't answer. He just stopped breathing again.

With a sigh, Jacob kissed his mate's shoulder – gently, not without hunger but with tenderness, too – and pushed himself up off the ground and off of Edward.

The vampire flipped onto his back instantly and sat up, his face a mask as he watched Jacob silently.

"I'm not going to seduce you into this," Jacob told him quietly. "And I'm not going to take advantage of you when you're in pain. But I'm going to prove that I can make you happier than she ever could, that I'm better for you. Someday you'll see it."

Edward stayed quiet for another moment. Then, softly, "It's your fault that she's gone. If you hadn't come to the school…" He looked away. "Her absence does not make me happy, Jacob."

"Bella left because she's not right for you," Jacob said back, just as soft. "Not because of me. She left either because she knew that and wants you to be happy –" _with me_, he said silently, even though Edward could hear just as if he'd said it aloud, " – or because she's too thoughtless and cruel to realise how much leaving would hurt you."

_Or she doesn't care. _

The words hovered unspoken between them.

"I don't even know where she's gone," Edward whispered. "She told Charlie she was going to visit Renee for a while. But Alice knows something, and she won't tell me what it is, won't even tell Jasper."

Jacob waited for Edward to look at him, but he didn't. "Do you want me to find her and bring her back?" He asked quietly.

Edward glanced up at him – and vanished, just like that, without saying a word.

* * *

"Do you think Edward is all right?" Esme asked, pausing for a moment in her embroidery. It had been an appropriate occupation for a lady when she was human, and though as a vampire her needle flashed and glittered like a star when it moved so fast in her fingers, it still soothed her at times. And she always loved to make pieces for whichever home they were living in at the time.

Alice shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know," she answered honestly. Whenever Jacob entered the picture, Edward's future vanished. When he had come running in a few minutes ago, the whole family instantly knew that he had seen the werewolf – the smell of wet dog had been all over her brother – but Edward hadn't left his room since and wasn't talking to any of them. "I don't see him doing anything drastic in the near future."

Esme clicked her tongue, bowing over her square of violet silk. "I was so afraid it would all end badly," she murmured sadly. "If only Tanya could have won his heart, instead of a human girl."

"Jacob might now," Alice said softly.

Esme nodded slowly. "I must admit I prefer the notion of a werewolf than a human for any of you," she admitted in her soft voice. "And this Jacob sounds like a good boy."

Alice looked up. "You should have seen him in Volterra," she said for the hundredth time. "Or against the Volturi."

"He saved Edward's life," Esme said firmly, jabbing her needle into the cloth almost as if to hammer in her point. "This family owes him a great deal. Please tell him that he has my support in his suit, the next time you see him."

"Tuesday," Alice told her. "I'm seeing him on Tuesday." That was when her future vanished, though it reappeared again after that. Ever since Jacob had made a return into their life, declaring his intention to fight for Edward's affections against Bella, Alice had gone to talk to him at least once a week. Sometimes Jasper came too, and though her husband was more wary of the idea of werewolves, anyone that wasn't Bella had his approval. And Alice had seen the love and need Jacob had for her brother on the plane to Volterra. She knew how much the weekly updates on Edward's emotional and physical well-being meant to him.

Rosalie poked her head around the door of the sitting room. "Are the Denali coven here?"

Esme frowned. "No, why?"

"Is Bella back?"

"I'm trying to read here, Rose," Alice told her sister, trying not to laugh as she saw what Rose had come to say. "Just tell her so I can get back to my story."

"Tell me what?" Esme asked, confused.

"Didn't you get a whiff of Edward?" Rosalie asked innocently.

Their mother's gentle expression of confusion didn't waver. "He smelled like werewolf…" She said slowly. "I thought he had seen Jacob."

Alice giggled.

"Oh, he did," Rose agreed, crossing the room as lightly as a dancer to take a seat next to her mother. "But under that…Didn't he smell _different_ to you?"

Esme frowned prettily. "I thought there was something familiar, but I couldn't place it," she admitted. "I put it out of my mind."

"He smelled like _lust_, Esme," Rosalie said conspiratorially, and Alice laughed as their mother's eyes widened. "Emmett's scent is _just _the same when I talk dirty to him."

"And Jasper's, when I dress up," Alice added.

"Stop, stop!" Esme laughed, clapping her hands over her ears. "That is too much, girls! I don't need to know about your intimacies!"

Alice and Rose glanced at each other, and almost simultaneously burst out laughing.

"May I share the joke?" Jasper asked, appearing in the doorway. His eyes glittered, and Alice wasn't surprised that he had come downstairs; he never could resist the kind of happiness and laughter that had filled the room between the three women.

"Of course!" Alice chirped. "Come sit here." Obediently, her husband sat down on the sofa beside her, and Alice set aside her book to curl up in his lap. He purred low in his throat like a panther as she tucked her head under his chin; it was their favourite way to sit together. "You might be a bit scandalised though."

"Oh?"

"Mmhm," Rosalie grinned. "We were just talking about Edward. And upsetting Esme's delicate sensibilities," she said teasingly.

If Esme could have blushed, she probably would have. "There are private things a mother never needs to know about her children," she said primly, but she was smiling as she said it.

"Oh," Jasper said with growing realisation and wariness as he put two and two together. He nuzzled Alice's hair. "Why are you embarrassing Esme?"

"We didn't mean to!" Alice protested, laughing.

"I did," Rose said unrepentantly. She laughed when Esme pretended to glare at her.

"Rose noticed that Edward smelled like lust," Alice explained as Jasper's arms wrapped around her waist. She snuggled into him happily. "And then we both told Esme how we recognised the smell."

Alice couldn't see Jasper's face, but she Saw him roll his eyes. "I apologise for this one's sense of humor, mother," Jasper said dryly, but Alice could hear the smile in his voice. "I really don't know _what_ to do with her."

Alice squirmed in Jasper's grip, and he obligingly loosened his arms so that she could sit up in his lap. Smiling, she touched her lips to his jaw, and almost instantly a rich muskiness permeated his scent as his tightened his arms around her again reflexively.

"I can think of a few things," she murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck.

The scent grew stronger; it was rich and heady and it made her want to bury her face in Jasper's neck so she could breathe it in, so she could lick his skin and taste it, taste _him_. Vampires always smelled sweet and delicious, even to their own kind, but the pheromones of a beloved partner were incredibly hard to resist.

Alice didn't want to resist.

She licked Jasper's jaw, and a low purr rumbled in his throat.

Esme coughed, and Alice turned to look at her, amused.

"Sorry Esme," she grinned before their mother could speak. "Come on, Jas." She kissed his cheek and sprung deftly to her feet. "Upstairs."

"Hm?" His eyes were fixed on her, hot and dark; it made her shiver and squirm delightedly in her clothes, reveling in the sensation, in his attention, in the soft shifting of her silk shirt over her skin.

"You're projecting, Jasper," she grinned, reaching for his hand to pull him up. "It's making everybody else uncomfo –"

His lips covered hers, swallowing her words, and without thought her eyes fell closed as she pressed up into him. Her arms twined around his neck, loving the height and strength of him; and then his hands moved from cupping her face to her waist. She saw what he was about to do and when he hoisted her up her legs wrapped around his waist, her lips parting over his hungrily, a growl of want spilling out of her throat and into his mouth.

There was a rush of wind, and then they were falling back onto their bed.

* * *

"I wonder how Edward is feeling right now," Rosalie murmured, looking down at her neatly folded hands.

Esme didn't answer, but she suppressed a smile. She had worried for years about Rosalie's bitterness towards her own vampirism, feared that the resentment her first daughter held for Carlisle and Edward would eventually split their family. But the tidal wave of fear that had swept over them when Alice told them that Edward was going to the Volturi had washed away much of Rosalie's emotional debris. She had never meant to hurt her brother, and ever since she had made an effort to prove that to her family.

It was easier for her to show them all how she loved them, now that she was so determined to do so.

"Probably very confused," Esme said slowly. "I don't think this is how he foresaw his relationship with Jacob going."

Rosalie snorted. "Alice did," she pointed out.

Esme smiled. It was probably unreasonable to be proud of talents that her children were not responsible for; Emmett's strength, Rose's beauty, Jasper's ability to soothe frightened human children. It would be better to encourage Edward's music, a skill he practiced and honed and put work into – and she _did_ treasure it. But she was proud nonetheless of Alice's foresight as she was all their family's non-cultivated gifts, regardless of the fact that they were nothing to do with Esme and she was not responsible for them. She was not even responsible for having turned Alice.

But it was a uniquely precious gift, one that even the Volturi desired, and Esme _was_ proud. Of all her family.

"Alice is special," she murmured, dipping her needle into her silk.

"So you think she's right?" Rose pressed. "Do you think Edward…and Jacob…?"

Esme paused in her embroidery again.

"I don't know…" She said slowly. "I think that a werewolf would be better for one of us than a human would. But we feel so deeply. If Bella doesn't come back, I don't know what that will do to Edward. He tried to kill himself once over her…He may not let himself care about anyone else again."

_He may go to the Volturi again_, she thought suddenly.

"Esme!"

Rosalie's shocked cry made Esme look down at her hand as Rose's fingers fought to open her mother's fist.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Esme said reassuringly, opening her fingers to reveal the needle she'd crushed. "I'll just need a new needle," she sighed.

Rose looked at her with concern. "Esme…"

"I think Jacob has to succeed," Esme said quietly, looking down at the crumpled metal of her needle. It lay in her palm like a coil of wire. "Sooner or later, whether human or one of us, Bella will destroy Edward. Destroy our family."

She closed her eyes. "Jacob _needs_ to succeed. For all of us."

* * *

Bella hadn't bothered to take her bag from the luggage checkout; it wasn't as if she would be needing it. But now that she was outside walking through the city, she wished she had. It would have been reassuring to have something to hold.

She had spent the plane journey memorising the phrases she would need to find where she was going, in case she got lost. She had never been very good in cities, after all.

The thought made her think of Seattle, and the night Edward had rescued her and admitted what he was. It made her heart hurt.

To distract herself, she went over her argument again in her head. She had spent a week crafting it right under Edward's nose, subtly asking questions and weaving what she learned into her arguments. But for all the careful, flowery language, it all came down to one thing; Aro's greed.

Edward had told her long ago that the Volturi, and Aro in particular, collected rarities. Especially vampires with supernatural gifts, vampires who emerged from their change with powers like Jasper's or Alice's or Edward's. Powers that were traits they possessed as humans and were magnified by the venom in their veins.

How powerful would _she_ be, when her gift had already manifested itself? Before she ever became a vampire, she could block Edward, and he had suggested that she might be able to shut out vampires like Aro and Jane, vampires whose powers also worked in the mind. Would that be enough to convince Aro that she could be an asset?

If it wasn't, she had a back-up offer.

"Bella Swan?"

Bella turned, feeling her heart pound as she came face to face with a man she recognised instantly as a vampire. His features were too even and perfect to be human, and in the midst of golden-skinned Italy he was too pale. Even from feet away, she could feel the cold emanating from his skin.

And besides, his eyes were bright, gleaming red.

"Y-yes," she managed, trying to stand straighter. "How did you know?"

The vampire smiled. "Edward…described you. Aro is very interested in meeting you, Bella."

_He is? _

She set her jaw and lifted her chin. "Of course he is," she said calmly. She imagined how Rosalie would react to a summons from one of the Volturi leaders; she tossed her hair, brushed to gleaming in the airplane toilets, and gestured for the vampire to lead on. "Please."

She wasn't sure she fooled him – his ruby eyes glittered with amusement – but he played along, indicating she should follow as he walked away from her. Her legs felt unsteady as she followed him through the streets, and sometimes when she really thought about what she was doing, it got hard to breathe. The feeling grew worse as they moved away from more populated areas; they passed fewer and fewer people and Bella's heart sped faster and faster, as if it might beat out of her chest. Once she stumbled, and she flinched as her vampire guide reached out and caught her.

"Alright, Bella?" He smiled. The expression made her shiver.

_Rosalie. Be Rosalie!_

But it was so hard to pretend to be the glorious, golden Rosalie when she felt all too human and all too alone.

"This way, Bella," the vampire said suddenly, and she looked up from her thoughts to see that they had stopped. Beside an open manhole cover.

_Rosalie_, Bella told herself. _Be Rosalie._

"It's Miss Swan," she said coolly.

Something flickered in his eyes; it might have been respect. She hoped it was respect, and not more silent laughter. "Miss Swan," he corrected himself. "Please, this way." He offered her his hand.

She took it, and stepped into the darkness.

* * *

Alice opened her eyes, but she wasn't looking at the ceiling.

"It's starting," she whispered.

* * *

"Miss Swan to see you, Aro."

_Swan?_ Marcus blinked slowly, interest stirring in him like a whisper in a crowd. Had that been the name of the mind-reader's mate? His official mate, Marcus corrected himself. Such a tangled web Carlisle's son had gotten himself lost in…

The human girl who walked into the room stood tall though she herself was not. Marcus did not have Aro's gifts, and had not seen Bella in Edward's memories, but the girl – the woman – was nearly as beautiful as one of their kind. He catalogued her features absently, automatically; delicately creamy skin made obvious by the soft grey shirt slid down over her shoulder; lush dark hair; eyes the colour of the finest Belgian chocolate.

Not that any of the Volturi could eat chocolate. But Gianna did. When Marcus remembered – which was not often – he made sure someone picked up a box for her birthday.

"Ah, the infamous Bella!" Aro stepped forward from his throne, half-dancing down the steps towards her before he paused. "My, my. Edward did not exaggerate."

The human – Bella – smiled a little. "I'm sorry if I'm causing you pain."

Aro made a dismissive gesture. "Not at all! But may I?" Without waiting for her to answer, he stepped closer and lifted a lock of her hair almost to his face, inhaling deeply.

Bella stilled. Marcus could hear her pulse race from across the room.

"Exquisite," Aro murmured. "Perfectly exquisite." He let the hair fall, and gave Bella some space. "Now, Miss Swan, how may I be of service?"

Bella lifted her chin slightly. That was good – Aro liked fiesty, confident types. "I'm here to make a bargain with you."

Caius laughed. "And what do you have that we can't simply take from you?" He asked mockingly. "In case you have not yet noticed, Isabella, you are a human surrounded by vampires. And we are not like the Cullens."

Bella faced him squarely. Marcus thought she might have trembled, but it was so slight a movement that it was hard for even a vampire to notice. "It's Miss Swan," she said coldly. "And if you like, you can try."

Aro raised his eyebrow. "Perhaps Edward has not told you, Miss Swan," he said deceptively gently. "But I, too, am a mind-reader. Whatever you hold to bargain, I could take it from your thoughts."

There was a lull, and Marcus almost drifted away from the room again, lost inside his memories. Some of them were so old and so well-visited that they had dulled in his mind, like photographs turned brown by sunlight.

But then Bella offered Aro her hand. "Like I said, you can try."

Marcus almost jolted; he lifted his head as Aro took the human's hand, and stopped breathing. Anticipation – something he had felt only once before in the last decade – rippled through his apathy. Curiosity glittered amidst his constant mourning.

Aro dropped Bella's hand.

"Well?" Caius asked when Aro remained silent. "What is it she comes for, Aro?"

There was another pause, and Marcus felt the first flickers of impatience; it was so hot and unfamiliar that he almost didn't recognise it.

"I have no idea," Aro said finally, quietly.

Stunned silence.

Bella gave a little flick of her head, settling her hair behind her; the movement seemed involuntary, perhaps a nervous tic. "My mind is my own," she said simply. "Edward could never read it either."

Aro smiled, but Marcus saw no genuine pleasure in it. "That soothes my pride, Isabella. But perhaps we could test your shield?" He gestured towards the throne. "Jane, if you would?"

Bella stiffened, and her throat bobbed as she swallowed. Jane, on the other hand, stepped forward with a smile. "I'd be happy to, master." Marcus doubted it. Jane had been forced to endure ridicule ever since Edward's werewolf had resisted her power; the respect and fear with which she was treated and which she treasured so highly had begun to fade in the months since the incident. Jane had never actively integrated herself with the rest of the guard but it was rare to see her with anyone but Alec these days.

And she was no longer Aro's favourite toy. The Volturi had had no werewolf guard dogs for over a century, and Jacob had been such a beautifully healthy specimen. Marcus did not need to be a mind-reader to know that the memory of Jacob obsessed Aro almost unbearably.

Jane turned her gaze on Bella.

Marcus had seen dozens of vampires brought low under Jane's attention. Hundreds of humans. It did not even occur to him to expect anything other than Bella's voice torn by a scream as her body crumbled to the floor.

And yet it did not happen. Bella remained standing, remained silent.

Shock flickered over the faces of both Aro and Jane. It sparked and leapt inside Marcus, pure and raw and almost painful, and he sat upright in his chair, pushing off the arm of the seat to support himself in an effort to see better.

"Interesting…" Aro said softly. "Very interesting." He flicked his wrist, and Jane vanished. Alec's eyes followed her as she flit from the room, but he stayed in his place like a good little soldier.

Marcus' gaze slid away from him, disgusted. Alec had no idea how precious love was, even love between siblings. Love should always come before loyalty, but Alec placed the man who had saved the life of he and his sister from burning above the sister who had been saved.

It was a mistake.

"Very well, Isabella. Please, tell us what bargain you had in mind." Aro gestured for her to sit; before Bella could blink, Demetri tucked a gilded chair against the back of her knees, and she sat.

* * *

Now that she had gotten this far, Bella realised that all her carefully formed arguments were gone. She couldn't find the words in the middle of all these vampires, couldn't hear them over the drumming of her heart.

_What am I doing?_ She panicked. _Oh God, oh God oh God. What if they kill me? They'll laugh at me and kill me, and Edward will never know! He'll think I abandoned him!_

…_No. No, Alice will tell him. Won't she? What if she doesn't? She hates me, she doesn't want Edward to be with me. What if she doesn't tell him? What if he always thinks I ran away from him?_

She closed her eyes. She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't abandon Edward – she couldn't die.

"I want to be a vampire," she whispered. She opened her eyes and forced herself to look at Aro, forced herself not to shudder. His face was so blank, so skilled a mask that he gave away none of his thoughts. Nothing human could ever look like that. "You've seen what I can do. Imagine how much stronger I would be as a vampire. How useful." She swallowed, but pressed her point. "Edward told me that sometimes, you have to fight and destroy other covens. And sometimes those covens have vampires who have powers like Jane's or Alec's. Powers that don't affect me, powers that I could protect you from if I were a vampire."

She could see the interest in Aro's eyes, and knew she'd said the right thing.

"You would join the guard?" He asked almost idly, as if just to confirm.

A wave of relief crashed over her, and she nodded. They didn't even ask what she would get out of the arrangement; to them, vampires were so much greater than humankind that there was no reason to ask. It was obvious. Who wouldn't want to become a vampire, if they had the choice?

"Bella, I do believe we have a bargain," Aro said softly. He was smiling; he offered her his hand. "Come," he added as she rose from her chair, suddenly hesitant. "Somewhere more private would be best, don't you think?"

Bella started; he wanted to change her _now?_ Right now?

_But that's what you wanted,_ she reminded herself, setting her chin as she stepped forward and took Aro's hand. It was cold, and hard, and locked around her own like a manacle. _You wanted this. You need this. For Edward. _

"Yes," she agreed, trembling. "Private would be good."

And she forced herself not to look back as she followed him from the room.

* * *

"No!" Alice shouted. "No, no, no! He can't! He musn't!"

"Alice!" Hands on her face, her shoulders, trying to anchor her, trying to pull her out of the vision spiraling out of control behind her eyes. "What's wrong? Edward, what does she see?"

"_This will hurt, I'm afraid," Aro said with an apologetic smile. "But it will be over soon enough, and you will forget it."_

"_I've been bitten before."_

"_Ah, yes." Aro's fingers stroked over the silvery bite-mark on Bella's wrist as he guided her towards a luxurious bed. "James. Carlisle reported him to us. A rather impulsive tracker. He should never have been turned." He sat down on the edge of the sheets, pulling Bella towards him. "Unlike you, I'm sure." _

_Bella smiled at him – a weak, hesitant expression, before her eyes hardened and she slid into Aro's lap as indicated. _

"_Please do not feel uncomfortable," Aro murmured, brushing her hair back from her shoulder. "This is merely the easiest position." _

_Her arms wrapped around his neck. "I know. It's just…I've never touched anyone like this but Edward. It's a little strange."_

_Aro smiled. "Put him from your mind," he suggested. "As the one who introduced you to our world, I know that he must be very important to you. But when you awaken, you will no longer need him. You will have the guard, and Marcus and Caius and myself. We will be all that you require."_

_And Alice heard the lush tearing of her neck as his teeth met in Bella's throat._

When her vision cleared, she saw her entire family gathered in the room she shared with Jasper. Esme and Jasper were watching her with concern, and even as she hesitated to speak Jasper relaxed, seeing that the premonition was gone.

"What did you see?" He asked, just like he always did. He understood her visions better than anyone else, and he knew how she felt about them. He could _feel_ her need to express herself and get whatever she had seen off her chest.

But she didn't answer; she was frozen, staring at Edward in mute apology and sympathy.

He stood in the doorway like a statue, his face twisted in disbelief and horror.

"No," he whispered. "You're wrong. She couldn't have. She _wouldn't_…"

Alice bit her lip. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

He stared at her.

Then he threw back his head and screamed just as, thousands of miles away, Bella did the same.

* * *

On Tuesday, Jacob was waiting at the usual spot for Alice and Jasper. Alice had suggested the clearing as a place that was almost right on the border, somewhere that vampire and werewolf could meet without risking the treaty. And while Sam had quietly taken Jacob aside a long time ago to tell him that the pack would look the other way if he or Edward crossed the treaty's boundaries, it hurt none of them to stick to the form anyway.

But Alice wasn't here.

"Any news?" Sam asked.

Jacob turned to see his alpha walking out of the trees. "No," he admitted, glancing around them for any sign of the Cullens. "She was supposed to be here at noon." He felt unease coil in his gut. "She promised."

Sam bent and pulled out a small watch from the pouch around his leg, the bag that carried his shorts when he changed. "It's half past one."

"I know." He'd been following the sun. "I don't know where she could be. She's never been late before."

Sam frowned, but before he could speak Seth came bursting out of the trees, fur all on end as he dropped and rolled in the grass, emerging on all fours as a human teen. He was panting, skin and hair slick with sweat and out of breath; Jacob thought he saw the muscles in his arms trembling with strain.

"Sam, the Cullens – they need your help – Edward's trying to make a run for it, they need us to block – the border –"

Jacob's insides went cold.

Sam took one look at Jake's face and his eyes turned to steel. "I'll gather the pack. You – _go!_"

Jacob didn't even hesitate; he leapt forward and hit the ground running on four legs.

The last time he'd run this fast he was trying to save Edward's life. The tension and panic flying through him like glass shards in an explosion were uncomfortably similar to Volterra, and the reminder only made it worse. The trees blurred as he ran past them, leaping over a fallen log with ease to pass into the Cullens' property, just as the rest of the pack began to appear in his head.

He didn't see Edward, or Alice, and for a moment his fear skyrocketed.

"Jacob Black? Is that you?"

A blonde vampire stepped out of the house, watching him with a mixture of wariness and fearful hope.

Jacob ran through the list of the Cullens, and decided that this had to be Rosalie; he nodded quickly.

She didn't bother introducing herself, just got straight to the point. He blessed her for it. "Two days ago Alice had a vision of Bella going to the Volturi to be changed. Edward's been catatonic ever since, but today – the change takes three days. Bella will be waking up sometime this evening and he wants to be there, wants to take her from there." She spoke quickly, keeping her own fear and upset to a minimum so as to tell him everything as efficiently as possible; he could feel the other wolves listening just as intently as he was. "He wants to take Bella away from the Volturi, but if he tries they'll kill him."

Jacob froze.

"He's too fast for us to catch," Rosalie said hurriedly. "But my family is blocking off our side so that he can't get past us. We need you and your pack to please, _please _watch the border so that he can't get out that way, either."

_We will take care of it,_ Sam promised, murmurs of agreement – and some excitement – rippling through the pack-mind. _Jake, I don't think the Cullens understand how fast we are. See if you can catch up with Edward where they can't. It would be easier to hold him than to hold the border on both sides._

_I got it, _Jake snapped. Shock and fear were dulling into anger – a deep, smoldering fury that made his teeth ache to bite hard and deep.

_What the hell is the damn leech running away for when he's got Jake? _Quil asked indignantly.

_Shut up, Quil! _The pack chorused.

_Even though he's got a point, _Embry muttered.

Despite himself, Jacob smiled, but didn't stop to talk. He nodded at Rosalie and turned off into the bushes, hearing a _whoosh_ behind him that suggested she too had left to help her coven.

It probably would have been harder for one of the other wolves to track Edward down. On this side of the border the scent of vampires was everywhere, trails left by every one of the Cullens criss-crossing each other dozens of times over in a heedless, random pattern. They were all mixed up together, making them difficult to separate and isolate. A werewolf's nose wasn't designed to be able to identify individual vampires because genetically, _all_ vampires were enemies. There had never before been a need to tell the difference between a scent that said _find _and one that said _kill_.

_Any_ vamp you found, you killed.

But it was possible to find differences in scent, if you really, _really_ looked for it. If he were tracking Alice and Jasper and Carlisle, Paul would only smell ice and bleach and chlorine; Jacob identified them as apples and clean steel and lilies.

And Edward's scent was like stardust.

Soon enough the trails left by the other Cullens fanned out like the spokes of a wheel, and Jake was momentarily interested to notice that they'd left no visible sign of their passing; no broken branches or bent twigs, not even a crushed blade of grass to show where they'd stepped. Even the pack couldn't move like that, so lightly and swiftly, like ghosts.

Edward, on the other hand, had cut a heedless swathe through the forest. Even Paul could have followed it.

Jacob ran faster, shouting in his head for Edward to stop and calm down and _talk to him._

Abruptly, he heard snarls and triumph and pride and exhilaration rip through the pack-mind.

_He's here! _Quil shouted, _Jake he's here at the border –_

_Leah! Watch yourself!_

Jacob made a hair-spin turn and barreled to the left, his heart pounding. _Don't hurt him!_ He couldn't stop himself from yelling, panic crashing through him like an avalanche. All it would take was for one of the guys to get over-excited, for Edward to try and push through at the wrong moment. How upset was he? Hysterical? Would he think logically or attack the pack?

_**Do not injure Edward**_, the alpha's voice rumbled through the pack-mind like the word of God. _**Cover the line ONLY. If he tries to get past you knock him away, but do NOT attack.**_

Jacob's legs almost gave out from under him with the relief. _Thank you_, he whispered.

He felt Sam's flicker of acknowledgement – and then Jacob must have crossed the invisible line between being too far away to hear and close enough, because suddenly the snarls and howls and meaty crashes of bodies hitting each other were in his ears and not his head, and in another moment he could see them.

_Edward! _He shouted, _What are you doing? Stop!_

Edward turned to look at him – and Jacob took an involuntary step back. That wasn't rage. That wasn't even pain. It was flat-out madness, burning like white fire in the vampire's face, like lightening trapped inside the hollow chest of a glass statue. Fragile, brittle, ready to explode at any moment.

"Tell them to let me through," Edward hissed.

Jacob had never seen him with black eyes before. He had never seen _any_ of the Cullens with dark eyes before, only the red-head Victoria when the pack hunted her. Edward looked just like that leech with burning black eyes and his lips pulled back.

He couldn't let Edward become like her. Bella had told them that Victoria had lost her mate, and that had been the first logical explanation the pack could come up with as to why a leech was repeatedly risking her life against a strong, healthy werewolf pack. Vampires felt emotions so strongly, it made sense that losing the love of their life could send them crazy.

_I can't do that, Edward,_ Jake said softly, padding forward again slowly. He could see Sam, Leah, and Paul spread out to block Edward's way about a hundred yards ahead of the vampire, and a quick flicker told him that the rest of the pack were ready and waiting at other points on the border. _You need to calm down. You need to come home. Your family is worried sick –_

"What I _need_ is to rescue Bella from that bastard Aro!" Edward shouted, so loud and sudden that Jacob almost jumped. The shock of hearing that cultured voice curse made him freeze. "And since the only reason she's with him is _you_, since this disaster is nothing but _your_ _doing_, you can tell them to LET ME THROUGH!"

Sam growled. Edward turned and snarled at him.

Jake's anger, that he had been struggling with ever since Rosalie told him what Edward was planning, snapped.

_I DIDN'T MAKE BELLA DO ANYTHING! _He roared. _She left, Edward! I didn't run her out of Forks! I didn't confront her and threaten her! I didn't –_

"Yes you _did!_" Edward snarled. "You threatened the one thing that mattered to her! My love for her! You told her you would take me away from her, and you truly believe you have nothing to do with her disappearance? Going to the Volturi proves she felt desperate!"

Jacob growled. _If she loved you, and trusted that you loved her, why did she feel the need to leave? _

"She has low self-esteem!" Edward snapped.

_How can she have low self-esteem? She has guys falling all over themselves for her everywhere she goes! _Jacob snapped back. _She can get anything she wants by flirting, and she knows it! _

"That's ridiculous!" Edward hissed. "She never –"

Jacob deliberately called up the memory of that night on the beach. Bella had flirted and teased as if she'd been doing it for years to get the story of the Cold Ones out of him, and from the looks people like Mike Newton had given Jake when they returned, he wasn't the only one to have fallen for it.

_She DID,_ Jake insisted, trying not to feel bad as Edward's expression flickered and turned pained, unsure, hesitating. _The only reason she left is that she KNOWS she's not worth you – listen to me! _He snarled as Edward's face hardened again. _Listen! She knows that! She's gone to the Volturi because she thinks that if she's a vampire, it won't matter! _

Edward bowed his head. Jacob felt a flicker of hope, and silently he begged Edward to listen to him, to believe him. Alice had told him all about her vision, and Jake knew about the night the Cullens had rejected Bella as a possible addition to their family.

Alice had seen Edward in love with him. Since that wasn't a possible future but a certainty – he knew, deep down in his bones, that eventually it would happen, because it _had_ to – Jacob wasn't willing to risk that _any_ of Alice's visions were false ones. Including the premonition of Bella leading Edward into the Volturi's grasp.

Or worse, Edward's death at their hands.

_You've spent over a hundred years fighting not to be a monster, _Jacob thought, watching Edward and hoping, praying that this time the vampire would see the truth. _I won't let you become one now. And I definitely won't let you die._

Edward looked up – and Jake's heart sank at the look in his eyes. "You won't _let_ me do anything," Edward snarled. "You have no right to dictate my actions, Jacob. I don't belong to you. And if you continue to restrain me this way," he gestured at the other wolves, at the forest around them, "then I _will_ go through you."

Jacob bared his teeth and crouched. _You can try._

Sam growled warningly. _Jacob…_

_He's not going to listen to me, Sam,_ Jake said without looking at his alpha. _If I have to pin him to the ground to stop him from killing himself, then that's what I'll do. _

Edward's black eyes flickered, and something hot and burning flashed in them. Jake wasn't sure what it was, but suddenly he smelled musk.

_Then we will retreat and guard the border, _Sam decided. Even as he spoke, Leah and Paul trotted away into the trees, vanishing into the shadows obediently. _And YOU will call if you need our help, _Sam added sternly.

_Yeah…_ Jacob said slowly. _Yeah, ok. _The scent was getting into his nose, into his head, thick and sweet and making his mouth water.

Edward was staring at him.

_Jacob? _Sam asked, hesitating to follow the others. _Are you alright? _

Jake glanced at him. _You don't smell that? _

_Smell what? _

That'd be a no. _Nothing. Go with the others, I can handle this. _He paused. _Can you try and tell the Cullens that Edward's ok?_

_Not right now, _Sam said after a pause. _But tell me when Edward is calm, and I'll send Leah once we no longer need to watch the line._

He disappeared before Jacob could thank him, but Jake's gratitude reached him through the pack-mind anyway.

* * *

"I can't see, I can't _see_," Alice muttered, pacing back and forth as she strained to search the future for her brother. But unlike a human, Alice's pacing covered almost three hundred yards instead of a dozen or so feet. She could watch her bit of the line while working out her fears through movement.

Her family was spread out around the border of Forks, creating half of the loop that was locking Edward in; Sam's pack had the other half. And it was probably going to work – Alice could no longer see the Volturi guard ripping Edward into pieces, but the vision of Bella leading Edward into the Volturi throne room _hadn't_ yet disappeared, even after almost two weeks.

Her premonitions rarely lasted so long without changing.

"Come on, Jake," she murmured. "You can do it. Change his mind!"

Jacob shifted his weight from paw to paw, shaking his body so that his fur rippled and settled. It was as much an attempt to clear his head from Edward's thickening scent as it was an instinctive gesture to make himself look bigger and more threatening.

_You said something about going through me? _He challenged. He decided that the heat in Edward's eyes was probably anger – frustration and fury that Jake kept interfering in his life, kept stopping Edward from doing what he wanted to do.

Which meant that Jacob had no right to be getting all distracted by the scent that wouldn't go _away_. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on this coming spar, trying to remember his own anger and helplessness when he'd heard what Edward was planning.

_Leaving me. You tried to leave me and I didn't even know! _Not just leave Jacob behind while he went to Volterra – Edward had been going to his death, where Jake could never get him back.

_You selfish bastard._

Edward set his jaw.

If he'd been in human form, Jake would have smirked. _Come on, _he coaxed mockingly. Oh yeah, he was spoiling for a fight now. He crouched, feeling his muscles bunch and clench with the ease of an oiled machine. _Or is the little vampire afraid of the big bad wolf? _

Edward _snarled_ and leapt for Jake's throat. Jacob laughed mockingly and with exhilaration, diving to his left; he hit the ground rolling into his human shape and sprang into a crouch, his heart pounding with excitement. He wanted to fight, wanted to wrestle, wanted to pit his strength against his mate's and slam Edward into the ground; but he couldn't stay in wolf-form for it. When push came to shove he didn't want to fight Edward armed with teeth and claws as if they were warring for real.

"You're enjoying this," Edward hissed.

Jacob shrugged, watching his mate. How could he not be? Edward was in a crouch that mirrored his own, animal savagery dressed in designer denim and cashmere, and Jake's head was still thick and foggy with that _scent_. "Maybe a little," he smirked.

He ducked out of the way as Edward sprang for him again, but this time Edward punched his fist into the ground and used his arm as a hinge, spinning in mid-air to follow; Jake grabbed the ankle heading for his collarbone and used the vampire's momentum to spin and throw Edward away from him. He meant to stand still and let Edward spring back, as many times as it would take to burn off the desperate anger in his eyes, but the sudden submersion in Edward's scent made him forget that plan.

It was Edward's turn to dart away as Jake growled and sprang after him; Jake shifted mid-air and paused, growling.

Edward watched him warily.

Jake's tail twitched.

Edward turned and _ran_, and only Jacob's werewolf eyes could turn the copper haired blur into a human outline; a low snarl rumbled out of Jacob's chest and he shoved off the ground, racing after his wayward mate.

It wasn't quite anger that fuelled Jacob's run, burning hot and bright and making it almost easy to keep pace with the vampire running flat-out. But it _was_ memories. Memories of Alice on the Swan doorstep; memories of that first run, from Forks to Seattle and Rome to Volterra. Memories of the pain Jane had inflicted on him, and the collar in Aro's hands; but most of all memories of the sheer, all-encompassing _fear_ that he wasn't going to be on time. The fear that Edward would be gone, lost, dead, and the blazing _rage_ that Edward would do that to himself – would commit suicide like that. Would go to the leech-kings and _beg _to be allowed to die, as if the world wasn't full and rich and beautiful enough to love without Bella in it.

_Stupid idiot vampire,_ he growled. And did Edward really think he could outrun a werewolf? _I was designed to catch you, Edward. _The thought sent a thrill through him, hot and dark – the same feeling that had coiled in his chest and the pit of his stomach when he had had Edward's neck pinned under his hand.

Edward jerked to a stop, and Jacob nearly crashed into him; at the last moment he shifted again and tackled the vampire around the waist. He didn't have time to think about it, and he didn't at all – it was instinctive, a knee-jerk reaction, just as it was to tighten his arms when Edward tried to spin in his grip.

And then the vampire really did go insane.

Edward's body jerked and writhed as wildly as if he'd been hooked up to an electric current, and he was screaming, shrieking with rage as his hands curled into fists and tried to break any bones of Jacob's they could reach; he kicked out and shoved his knee into Jake's thigh, only a desperate twist of Jake's hips saving his crotch from agony. Jacob had never seen anything like it, and it scared him; all thoughts of a playful fight (or the not-so-playful display of dominance his wolf was urging for) fled as he struggled to dodge Edward's blows and restrain him. The musky scent was gone, nothing but faint traces clinging to Edward's clothes, and that was good because Jake needed his head clear. He growled instinctively as the two of them fought, Jacob trying to pin Edward to the ground and Edward fighting to throw him off and get away –

And then Jacob got it. What had he said last time_?_ _ 'Maybe you think that you can't fight me off. And maybe not having to be afraid of hurting me would be such a relief. Maybe not having to be the strong one would feel so good.'_

He didn't even pause. He locked his hands – they were bigger than Edward's – around the vampire's wrists and shoved down, electricity thrilling down his spine and through his veins. Edward snarled and kicked, but he didn't have enough leverage anymore to do serious damage, and the bruises were fading even as Jake pinned the vampire's hips and calves with his own.

Edward shuddered and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back against the grass. In an instant, the body under Jacob's relaxed – no, that wasn't it. All the fight went out of him, but it wasn't the same as relaxing. It was a subtle kind of tension, Jake thought.

And then thinking became hard as _that smell _came back.

Jacob's wary concern turned hot and golden as he looked down at Edward. It had felt, still felt so unbelievably good to throw all of his strength against the vampire – and succeed. It was such a _rush_. And not, surprisingly, just because of the desire for dominance that was inherent to his wolf; it felt good, so good, to be able to keep his mate safe. From the Volturi he planned to run to and his own idiocy.

_Mine_, he thought, panting hard as he looked down at Edward. _Mine to hold. Mine to protect. _

"I told you that you couldn't hurt me," he said softly, watching his mate's face. "Are you ok now?"

"No," Edward said hoarsely. "I'm not alright." He swallowed. "I think I'm going insane."

Jacob thought about this, not really very worried. He had a good idea what Edward might be worried about, and he didn't think his mate was crazy. "I doubt it," he grinned. "I think you're just becoming sane."

Edward's eyes opened, and whatever Jake had been about to say disappeared. He was struck dumb as the vampire's black eyes smoldered at him, as the sweet, heady scent that had been torturing him on and off since their last encounter steadily grew stronger and stronger. Jacob's tongue felt thick in his mouth, his mind wiped blank.

_God_ he was in thrall, he thought helplessly, smiling at himself because it was impossible to be upset about it. He wanted to kiss his way from Edward's hair to his toes until his mate's body was hot with the werewolf's heat. He wanted to kiss Edward's mouth. He wanted to make his mate whimper and moan and writhe, and he wanted to hold him, forever, and never let _anything_ hurt him again.

_Please just let me hold you,_ Jacob prayed. _Please. Just let me keep you safe._

Edward blinked, and Jacob struggled to control himself. Dammit, but Edward looked _cute_ – there was grass in his hair, and the innocent-confused blinking made it hard to resist kissing him senseless.

"You don't make behaving very easy," he muttered, trying not to stare at Edward's mouth. Even the memory of their last – their first – kiss and how it had all ended couldn't dull the edge of his desire. But what he felt for Edward was more than just sex; that was why he hadn't pushed the issue when the vampire had bared his neck and held Jake's arm around his waist involuntarily. It was how he had the strength to stay in control now.

_Because I love you. And I'll never hurt you. _

"I'm sorry." Jacob was startled out of his thoughts; for a moment he thought that Edward was apologising for not returning Jake's feelings. The thought saddened him, but by this point he was resigned to the fact that replacing Bella in his mate's affections would take time. He could be patient. He knew it would all work out in the end.

"For making your life difficult," Edward added, and it was Jacob who blinked this time. _Oh._ "I…understand that this situation is not your fault."

Jacob stared. "Really?" He asked, not totally sure if he shouldn't be suspicious. "Edward, I love you, but I'm not sure that I trust you."

He said it jokingly, playfully – but it was still a thrill to say it aloud. He saw Edward's eyes widen, and despite himself he smirked, enjoying the look of naiveté. It couldn't have been further from the truth, of course – how could a hundred-year-old vampire be innocent? – but still. It was fun to wind Edward up.

And too easy.

Edward's eyes narrowed, and Jacob grinned innocently.

"Yes, really," Edward said finally, obviously giving Jake up as a lost cause. "You did not choose to imprint on me. Sam's thoughts…cleared up a few things." He glanced away. "And…I was distraught when I placed the blame of Bella's actions on to you. I know better than anyone how stubborn she is. If she…went to Aro…It was by her own choice and no one else's."

"Are you asking for my forgiveness?" Jacob asked incredulously. "Because you don't need to. Seriously." He paused. "Ok, you've been – kind of an idiot, actually. Suicide is not an ok default response to stress." He glared. "And some day we have to talk about that. But to be honest…Your life's really messed up right now. And you're handling it really well. Apart from the whole constantly-suicidal thing."

Edward's mouth quirked. "Apart from the constantly-suicidal thing," he agreed. He almost looked as if he might laugh. "I will try to work on that."

Was Edward teasing him? Jake grinned like an idiot and didn't care. "Thank you." Reflexively he bent his head to press a playful kiss to Edward's lips – and froze just in time, with their mouths only inches apart.

"…I'm sorry," Jake whispered, terrified that he had ruined everything again. He was already dreading the transformation of Edward's face – from open and happy to hard and closed. "I didn't mean…I'm sor –"

Edward's hands were still pinned by Jake's. Maybe that was why it surprised Jake so much – he didn't have the warning of Edward reaching for his face or his hair.

He just had Edward leaning up and pushing their mouths together.

* * *

Alice leapt and punched the air, whooping as the terrible vision of Bella leading a red-eyed Edward towards Aro vanished.

"Yes! He did it!"

* * *

The touch of Edward's lips on his opened the floodgates. Jacob's fear and apology were lost in the tidal wave of love and lust and raw, primal hunger; he groaned into the vampire's mouth and reveled in Edward's answering gasp, the boneless writhe that pressed up against him when he pinned his mate's hands above his head, understanding without words that Edward needed to feel his strength. For the first time since he'd shifted he realised that he was completely naked and he growled, breaking the kiss to bite and suck at Edward's cool jaw and neck, fighting not to grind his hips into the vampire's as Edward arched and moaned beneath him. The sound was like warm honey, like a hand around his cock, caressing.

He wanted to hear _more._

Jacob buried his face in the curve of Edward's throat, breathing in the scent where it was strongest, heady and overpowering.

"Go on," he husked, trailing his lips over his mate's neck, the sharp curve of his jaw, the statue-perfect whorls of his ear. His touch left trails of warmth smoldering on Edward's skin. "Fight me. No more being scared to lose control, Edward – I will _make _you lose control." He tightened his grasp on Edward's wrists and felt his mate shudder and toss his head, panting even though he had no need to breathe. It was the hottest sound Jake had ever heard. "I can handle it."

Edward lay still, shivering, panting, unsure and maybe a little scared. Jacob felt too exhilarated to be scared, felt too complete and hungry and happy to doubt for an instant, but he understood. It felt like everything he ever needed to know to take care of his mate had been written into his DNA, and now he bit Edward's ear and slid his free hand beneath the vampire's shirt, splaying his fingers possessively – protectively – over Edward's stomach.

The ice, and the fire, and Edward arched with a cry, throwing his weight and his strength against Jake's hold not to get away but to get closer, to get more, and Jacob found his mouth and devoured it with a growl that made Edward whimper against his lips. It tasted like snow and honey.

Had he been worried? Had he been nervous before, unsure of what to do with his hands while his tongue slid into his mate's mouth? Had he wondered what Edward's body would feel like under his, as if this sensation wasn't imprinted in his blood and bones, so natural, so unbelievably _right?_ Had he tried to imagine how it would feel, to have ice and fire dancing over his skin like this, to have Edward's body melting into his?

It was hard to believe.

It wasn't easy to control his hunger, to keep from crossing the line. But it was easy to forget it, to ignore the throbbing heat between his legs in favour of the beauty of Edward's face when it twisted in pleasure, or the sound he made when Jake dipped his tongue teasingly between his mate's lips over and over. In comparison, the pulsing waves of desire that crashed rhythmically over him were unimportant, not as delicious or as interesting as Edward's reactions when Jake traced his fingertips over his mate's chest to trail heat over his abdomen, or rubbed gentle circles around the tight buds of his nipples. The play of Jake's werewolf warmth on Edward's cool skin drove the vampire _mad_, made him arch and moan and struggle to free his legs from where Jacob had them pinned.

"Sssh," Jacob soothed him, breaking the kiss at long last; they were both panting, and Edward's eyes were, if possible, even darker than before. His mouth looked redder; Jake brushed his lips over the vampire's lightly, teasingly, as his hand slid from beneath Edward's shirt and down his body. "Tell me if you want me to stop, ok?"

Edward growled and bit Jacob's lip, startling a moan out of him.

"You're not the only one who won't break," Edward husked against Jacob's jaw – and gasped, choked on a wordless, aching cry as the werewolf's hand palmed Edward through the soft designer jeans.

"Ssh, I got you," Jacob murmured as Edward's mouth fell open in stunned lust and breathless pleasure. "I got you, Edward, I got you," and the vampire groaned, pushing his hips desperately-deliciously into Jacob's hand so that Jake couldn't resist stroking and kissing and tasting the moans and whimpers the movements of his hand tugged unresisting from his mate's throat. How could he? Edward was so _beautiful_; _so_ beautiful, and Jacob pressed and stroked harder, a little clumsy and breathless but Edward was writhing, head thrown back as Jacob kissed his jaw and neck and shoulder and the corner of Edward's lips, whispering anything that came into his head; _I love you, so beautiful, like that, I got you, let go, want you so much, you're safe I got you let __**go**_.

And then he did; he arched and cried out and Jacob had never seen anything so exquisite. Edward was so unbelievably perfect that Jake didn't know if he could bear it; his heart felt as if it might burst as he kissed the vampire over and over again and felt his mate pressing back, kissing _back_, shuddering and writhing against the hold Jake had on his wrists.

Finally, it was over. Edward stilled, panting, and Jacob decided that he had been right; listening to a being that didn't need to breathe pant was definitely the hottest thing ever. Except possibly for the expression of exhausted, exquisite pleasure on Edward's face _as_ he panted.

Gently, Jacob released Edward's wrists, and kissed his lips softly.

Edward made a soft sound, his eyes half closed. "Dear God," he murmured. "Is it always like that?"

Jacob tried not to laugh. "I don't know," he answered honestly. He could feel an expression of moronic happiness threatening to take over his face; already, there was a wild, fierce joy building in his chest, like champagne bubbles and fireworks. "You're my first."

"Mine too," Edward said softly. If Jacob hadn't known that vampires couldn't sleep, he would have thought Edward was drifting off now. It made him smile.

And then his mate's words sank in.

"Really?" He asked, incredulous. "But – you're – aren't you a gazillion years old?"

Edward opened one eye, amused. "A hundred and ten." He corrected.

"And you never…? You never found anyone?" Jacob stuttered.

Edward shook his head. "I thought Bella…" Pain and guilt flashed across his face, and Jacob searched for another topic for Edward's afterglow, determined it wouldn't be ruined.

"Can I ask what changed your mind?" He asked softly.

Edward looked at him – and then there was a flicker and a _whoosh_ and Jake's breath caught in his throat, because Edward had deftly flipped them over and was now straddling Jacob's hips right _there_.

His eyes rolled back into his head.

"I can feel how much you lo – how much you care about me," Edward corrected himself, lying on Jacob's chest. "Even from my room, I can feel your mind on the periphery of my range. I have never felt a flicker of doubt from you – not one moment of hesitation. Even after all I've done to hurt you, even when you're furious with me, there is only constant love and support and dedication…It is…humbling."

He touched Jake's cheek. "It's beautiful," he murmured softly. "And very difficult to resist."

Jacob turned his head to kiss the vampire's wrist, pressing his lips to the cool skin.

"I won't lie to you," his mate whispered, watching him. "I don't know how I feel about you, Jacob. My body craves you and your strength, the release that you grant me from control. Ever since Volterra, I can think of little else – I am unspeakably thankful that Jasper cannot read the reasons behind the emotions he senses. But my heart is a battleground between what you feel – what I feel you feeling – and longing for Bella."

Jacob pushed himself up onto his elbow. He cupped Edward's cheek, stroking his thumb over the vampire's cheekbone.

Edward turned into it as Jacob had turned into his just a few moments ago. It was a strangely vulnerable gesture, hinting at a fragility disguised by the vampire's strength and superhuman beauty. Jake's heart clenched painfully at the sight. Had Bella ever seen Edward like this? And if she hadn't – what must it be like, to be strong _all the time_ and never let your guard down? How could you do it? Everyone needed to relax sometimes – needed to burn off stress and work out anger, indulge themselves and be taken care of by someone else. The pack-mind could be annoying and embarrassing, but at least everyone in the pack always knew if you were upset or angry, and knew what you needed to hear or do to be soothed. It wasn't just about working as a team to hunt Victoria; they worked together to take care of each other, too.

What about Edward? If he shut out the concerns of his family, and if the person meant to love him _couldn't_ take care of him even if she'd wanted to…

"At some point, you're going to have to consider the idea that I might be better for you than she is," Jacob whispered. "Edward, I know you love her. At one point, I was almost in love with her too. But I will _never_ hurt you. I can and will take care of you. And I will never do what she did to you."

Pain flickered in Edward's eyes, and Jake was sorry for it. But it had to be said. "You can see what's in my head," he said softly. "You know I'm telling the truth. You know that your family think I'd be better for you, and you know why. I think, deep down, you even agree with them. But I will wait as long as you need. I promise. Tell me to stop, or back off, and I will." He smiled weakly. "For a while, anyway."

Edward was silent for a minute.

"I don't want you to stop," he said slowly. "Or back off." And his eyes locked with Jake's as he slid a hand between the werewolf's thighs.

Jacob moaned, unable to stop himself from bucking his hips once. Edward's cool, snowy fingers and palm lay gently over his naked cock – it was almost too much, and he had to bite his lip hard to have the control to grab Edward's wrists and pin them to his sides.

"No," he said hoarsely to Edward's bewildered face. "Oh, no."

He growled, and in an instant he was sitting upright, his arms wrapped around his mate's waist tightly, pulling Edward against his unrepentant cock through the vampire's clothes.

Edward shuddered, and Jacob bit his ear.

"I love touching you," Jacob breathed, and Edward gasped. "And someday I will love pushing into you and filling you up until you scream." He tightened his arms as the vampire whimpered, resisting the urge to bite a glass-perfect lip. "But until you love me," Jacob said softly, "I don't want to be touched back. It would feel wrong." He grinned. "Delicious…but wrong."

"I…" Edward swallowed. "I understand," he said hoarsely.

Jacob grinned and kissed him, lingering. "I thought you would," he said softly, honestly.

He hesitated. The last thing he wanted was to ruin the moment, but it was a question that really needed to be asked. "Where does this put us?" He asked hesitantly.

Edward also hesitated.

"As friends," he said finally, voice soft as a whisper of silk on velvet. And then he grinned, a crooked smirk that made Jacob want to eat him alive. "I think I would enjoy getting to know you better."

Jacob threw his head back and laughed.

"Come on," he grinned, shoving Edward out of his lap and onto his feet. "Let's get you fed."

* * *

The moment Jacob shifted, the others knew far more than they wanted to.

_URGH!_ Leah yelped, and Jake barked his laughter even though she was too far away to hear. _I am SO outa here!_

Her presence vanished, and Jacob briefly felt amusement from some of the other wolves before they, too, turned human to give him some privacy.

_Dude, you'd better be able to hide those thoughts before I go wolf again,_ Quil threatened playfully before he disappeared with the others.

Jacob turned to find Edward looking at him, and he grinned, wagging his tail happily. He couldn't help it; he felt as if he were going to burst into a thousand golden fireworks, and when Edward laughed the feeling only intensified.

God, he was so beautiful. When he laughed, when his eyes shone like that…even when they were jet black, Jacob couldn't get enough of Edward's eyes. But their colour did change the whole look of the vampire's face. When they were golden, Edward was an angel, too perfect and flawless to be real, something to be worshipped and revered.

When they were black, Jacob could see the wild viciousness lying just beneath the surface, and it was sexy as all holy Hell.

He shook his head to clear it.

"Are you hungry?" Edward asked suddenly, and Jake looked up at him curiously. "I'd rather not eat alone," the vampire explained softly. "I would feel…self-conscious."

_I could eat_, Jacob allowed. Excitement burned under his skin, and the hunger that had gone unsatisfied smoldered, half shifting from desire to blood-lust. _Elk good?_ He and Embry had found one of the herds a few days ago, and Jacob had a pretty good idea of where they would be now.

And he wanted to see Edward hunt.

"Perfect," Edward smiled.

They glanced at each other – and with a burst of wild fey laughter Edward sprinted away, a copper-haired blur between the trees, and this time he left nothing but his scent behind him.

Desire and blood-lust warred, excitement pounding in his blood like war-drums and thunder, a spiral that twined tighter and tighter until it spilled out of Jacob's throat in a long, aching howl. Jacob could translate the sound of any wolf howl now, even those wolves who were _really_ wolves, not shapeshifters like Sam's pack. He knew that his pack would hear it, and the Cullens, and probably the sound travelled all the way down to Forks – joy, and triumph, and the call to the hunt.

And then he let it rip.

It was instantly obvious that Edward hadn't been running at full speed the last time. Jacob made a note to consider that later, but for now he set his jaw and let his wolf loose and felt his muscles flare and burn with the aching pleasure of use, felt his blood roar through his veins and push him faster and faster. His body moved smoothly through its gears, designed for this, built for this, and the desire burned hot gold in his belly, predatory and delicious, unsated and hungry.

Edward was fast, but he was _Jake's_, and Jacob had been born to catch him.

_Run, run, as fast as you can…_ He growled, a wolfish smirk curling his lips back from his teeth as he shot through the forest like a bullet. _Coming to get you, Edward_.

A few miles ahead, he heard a crash – the kind of sound a vampire would make if they tripped and stumbled and smashed through a few trees.

Jacob barked with laughter, and pushed the pace up a notch.

It was hard to stop himself from pouncing on Edward again when Jake caught up with him, but he behaved himself. Just. It was hard, and the glances Edward shot him when he didn't see Jacob looking made it harder. There was hunger in those eyes, hesitant and wanting, and the magic shivered under Jake's skin.

It would be so easy to change again and take Edward apart.

But Edward found the elk's trail, and with a distinct purpose in mind it should have been easier to allow himself to be distracted.

_Should have been_. Because once they were close enough for Edward's very real, very animal thirst to make itself known – once Edward's body lowered into a kind of running crouch and his lips curled back over his teeth – once the vampire's movements turned from playful to predatory…

Edward was no angel. He was a demon sent to torment him. How was Jacob supposed to resist touching him, tasting him, running beside him like two pieces of the same machine? They were perfectly synchronised. No words were needed as they scented the main body of the herd and circled around to come at the elk from downwind; they didn't need to do more than glance at each other before they split up and selected their prey.

Edward flit upwind, and when they caught the vampire's scent the animals bolted.

Both werewolf and vampire moved instantly, Jacob to cut off their prey from the herd and Edward to shepherd them away from any kind of cover or protection. And it felt so good, so unspeakably _right _and _amazing_ to work in a team like this – better even than the smooth ease of the pack-mind. Edward hunted as if it were a dance, lithe and graceful and quick, and he could have caught the elk a dozen times over but Jacob didn't care, didn't care that the vampire was showing off because Jake could do nothing but stare.

It had never really _hit _him before that Edward was a vampire. It hadn't mattered to him. It hadn't been important. Maybe if Edward hadn't been a vegetarian it would have mattered, but as Edward was it hadn't. He was just Edward, just Jacob's imprinted.

But watching him hunt…The savage, animal beauty of it made Jake's breath catch and his heart stutter, thrilled him right down to his core and made him ache. Edward _wasn't human_. Edward could understand having a vicious creature in your heart, burning beneath your skin at every moment; Edward knew what it felt like to be torn between humanity and instinct. If Jacob ever explained the moment when he'd had to choose between saving Bella and letting her die, Edward would not be disgusted and appalled. Edward could understand the pure, untamable exhilaration that screamed out of him and into the sky at the sheer _joy_ of being what he was.

And at the moment when Edward leapt and tore out the elk's throat – agile, flowing, natural – Jacob couldn't imagine why any wolf wouldn't want a vampire imprinted.

* * *

Alice skipped through the grass like a fairy, singing deliberately loudly as she moved through the trees.

"Jaaaaaaacob and Eddddddddddward, sit-ing in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-"

"One more word, Alice, and I'll have to kill you," Edward said coolly, materialising out of the ether. But she didn't take him seriously for a moment – his eyes were soft and golden and glittering with silent laughter as he leaned back against the mossy trunk of a tree.

Alice grinned. "No you won't," she sang. "I'm your faaaavourite sister. And I have far too much blackmail material on you."

"Oh?" Edward raised an eyebrow, managing to simultaneously convey disbelief and wariness and amusement. "But you can't see me when I'm with Jacob, so how can you blackmail me?"

"Yes," Alice clapped her hands delightedly, ignoring the second part. "So much so, that you're going to let me organise the wedding!"

Edward choked.

"Who's getting married?" Emmett asked, dropping down from somewhere above their heads. "Does this mean I have to wear a tux?"

"Jacob and Edward!" Alice announced, giggling. "It's going to be a big, white, beautiful wedding – even if I can't see it," she added with a pout. It was so annoying, not being able to foresee the werewolves! And very inconsiderate of them! How was she supposed to give Jacob's courtship all the little nudges it would need when she couldn't _see_ it?

Emmett glanced at his brother, a cheeky grin stretching over his face. "Ed, I've seen that wolf. No way is _he_ going to be the one in that pretty white dress."

Edward's eyes widened. "I'm not wearing a dress!" He snapped. "We're not getting married! I barely know him!"

"Sure smells like you know him," Rosalie purred, and Edward spun around to face her.

Emmett's face lit up. "Rose!" In a flash he crossed the distance between them, and Rosalie laughed as her husband picked her up and spun her so that her blue dress flared and billowed around her long legs as Emmett kissed her. "I'm so proud of you," he murmured. "My Rose, facing down big bad wolves."

Rosalie smacked him playfully. "Wolves? More like overgrown puppies," she scoffed, but she wasn't fooling anyone; her happiness was all over her face. "And speaking of overgrown puppies…" She grinned at Edward from over Emmett's shoulder. "How big _is_ Jacob, Edward?"

Alice laughed, and Edward looked as if he couldn't decide whether to blush or snarl. Since he couldn't do the former and Carlisle's appearance forbade the latter, Alice only laughed harder.

"Don't tease your brother, Alice," Carlisle said idly, but he smiled as he said it. Their father glanced at Edward. "You went hunting?" He asked, and Alice remembered that Edward's eyes had been black this morning.

Edward shrugged, fighting back a smile and avoiding their eyes. "Jacob took me," he muttered.

Alice and Rosalie exchanged grins.

Carlisle nodded approvingly. "Excellent. Then…?" He gestured. "Have the two of you reached some agreement?"

Edward nodded slowly. "Could I talk to you about it?" He asked. He glanced at the others with a quick grin. "In private?"

"Of course." Carlisle ran into the trees, and Edward followed a moment later.

Alice rolled her eyes. "I don't know why he bothers," she muttered. "I might not be able to see him and _Jacob_, but I can make out a conversation with Carlisle perfectly."

"Oh, are they talking?" Esme said happily, following Jasper out of the foliage. "Your father has been so worried about this mess with Bella." She glanced in the direction her husband and son had gone. "I hope they can sort it out."

Rosalie laughed. "I think Jake's already done that," she winked at Alice.

Esme covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes sparkling. "Yes, I did pick up on the smell this time," she tried not to laugh.

Jasper nuzzled her hair, and Alice started and looked up at him.

"I know that particular blend of concern and curiosity," Jasper murmured, and she grinned at him innocently. "You're listening in, aren't you?"

"Can you blame me?" Alice pecked his cheek.

Jasper gave her The Look.

Alice sobered. "I just want Edward to be happy, Jas. And I know he can have everything he ever wanted with Jacob."

"How can you know that?" Jasper asked softly, lacing their fingers together. The others were still bantering, giving the two of them their privacy. "Alice, you can't _see_ Jacob."

She knew she had that stubborn expression on her face by the way his eyes glittered. "No, I can't," she admitted. And how she hated it! "But Edward's entire future disappears if he chooses to be with Jake, Jasper." His expression said that he didn't understand. "He _never leaves_ Jacob," she explained. "They stay together _forever_. What does that mean except that they're happy together?"

"I see," her lover murmured. "But your gift doesn't work so concretely, Alice. You know that."

"You're just determined to play Devil's Advocate today, aren't you?" She glared at him playfully. He was unrepentant. "Yes, I know. The future changes every few minutes. Edward can't make up his mind."

She grinned. "But that doesn't mean he won't eventually."

* * *

"Edward, I promise that nothing you can tell me will surprise or disgust me," Carlisle said gently, walking beside his firstborn – first-changed – miles away from the rest of their family. "I'm sure this is all very complicated and painful for you, but you know that you can talk to me."

"I do know," Edward agreed, his voice soft and low. "Forgive me, Carlisle. I'm trying to organise my thoughts before I share them."

"If only I were able to do the same," Carlisle said mock-mournfully, and the corner of Edward's mouth quirked.

"You have a remarkably organised mind," his son said innocently, and Carlisle pretended to growl at him.

Edward's laughter was as bright and golden as his eyes.

"I have to admit that the ease with which everyone but me has accepted Jacob is a little…overwhelming," Edward said finally, when they had both sobered. "Neither the fact that he is male or a werewolf bothers any of you."

"Does it you?" Carlisle asked. "We have co-existed with the Quileute pack for two generations now, Edward. I think we are used to the idea of them." He raised an eyebrow. "As for him being a man…Have you ever known that to bother a vampire?"

"No," Edward admitted. "But I am more often in the minds of humans than vampires outside of our family. I hear their prejudices more often than our acceptance."

Carlisle looked curiously at his son.

"His being male doesn't make me uncomfortable," Edward answered before he could ask. "I was just commenting."

Carlisle nodded slowly. Considering the lust and smell of sex on Edward's skin when he returned from a confrontation with Jacob, it would have been strange to hear now that Jake's gender was an issue.

"It's that that bothers me," Edward explained. "The…intimacy."

Carlisle fought not to smile, but after spending the better part of a century fearing his son would never find love…He had not tried to hide his concerns when he saw Edward falling in love with a fragile, all-too-breakable human girl. But Edward had been happier than any of them had ever seen him, and eventually Carlisle, like the rest of his family, had put those concerns aside.

Until Bella had proved all those fears true.

"What is it that you have questions about?" Carlisle asked quickly, attempting to distract Edward from listening to his thoughts. "I can't promise I will have all the answers – I have never been with a man – but I will do my best to answer."

Edward was silent for a moment, and Carlisle didn't press him, waiting patiently for Edward to decide how much he wanted to share.

"I'm afraid of losing myself," Edward said suddenly, and whatever Carlisle had been expecting, it hadn't been _that. _"I…I want Jacob physically because I can lose control without hurting him. It feels…" His hand made a sharp, frustrated gesture. "I don't have the right words."

"It feels good to lose control," Carlisle said simply.

Edward glanced at him. "Yes." He looked away again. "His strength, it…it makes me come undone."

Carlisle raised his brows in surprise. "He's stronger than you?"

Edward nodded. "It might be a different story with Emmett, though," he allowed.

_It seems we underestimated them,_ Carlisle thought to himself. He made a note to confer with Sam sometime soon. There had been no sign of Victoria since the Cullens had returned to Forks, but surely if the vampires and wolves worked together they could destroy her with ease. He wished such things were not necessary, but Jasper had made a compelling case that if they did not defend their claimed territory from unruly nomads, others would come. Victoria was only hunting one human; others might do worse.

"Is this a problem?" Carlisle asked gently.

Edward stopped. They had been moving slowly, idly, but now they stopped. "I am not weak."

Understanding dawned.

"Of course not," Carlisle assured him. "Edward, _no_ vampire is weak. That you have less physical strength than Jacob is no more wrong than it is that Rosalie is no match – in that way – for Emmett."

"But I am not Rosalie! I am not a woman!" Edward protested. "Why do I feel this way?" His distress was almost palpable; he paced, and Carlisle watched him, choosing his words with care. "It isn't right. I shouldn't _enjoy_ being weak. Jacob wants to take care of me and protect me, and he has only the best intentions, but why can I not take care of myself? Why don't I _want_ to?" He closed his eyes. "I shouldn't want what he's offering me, but instead I crave it like I crave blood."

"Edward," Carlisle said gently, softly, "You have done nothing _but _take care of yourself for a hundred years. Don't you think you are entitled to rest now?"

His son paused. "I don't understand."

"With Bella, you were the protector." Edward nodded, his golden eyes wary of where this line of discussion would go. "On the surface, there is nothing wrong with that. But a healthy relationship is one that balances."

"What Jacob is proposing," Edward began, but Carlisle cut him off.

"Do you really believe that if it came to it, you would not fight beside him? That he would forbid you from doing so, or that you would listen if he did?"

"No…" Edward whispered.

"A balance does not have to be traditional, as is the relationship I share with Esme." Carlisle paused to let Edward absorb that. "But honestly, Edward, submissive in the bedroom does not necessarily mean submissive in a relationship. Again, think about Emmett and Rose."

Edward's lips quirked. "I'd rather not. It's bad enough when I have to listen – I try not to think about it afterwards." He cut Carlisle off with a gesture. "But yes, I think I see what you mean. Emmett is dominant physically, but the real control lies with Rosalie."

Carlisle nodded. "Exactly."

Edward looked away. "I don't think it would be like that for Jacob and I," he said softly. He closed his eyes. "He takes my breath away. As a wolf. As a human. Physically, he is perfect. If I lost control of my thirst, he could stop me from doing something unforgivable. When he touches me… And, Carlisle, _he ran with me_. He could keep up."

The longing in Edward's voice was palpable, the disbelief, the happiness. None of the Cullens were as fast as Edward. If he ran, he ran alone.

That, more than anything else, decided it for Carlisle.

He moved closer, and Edward looked up in surprise as Carlisle placed his hand on his firstborn's shoulder.

"If it makes you happy, let it happen," he said softly. "Listening to your head is not the best way to guide yourself through love, son." He tilted his head. "It is only your head that has a problem with this, isn't it?"

Edward shook his head reluctantly. "I am torn between them," he whispered.

"Between Jacob and Bella?" Carlisle guessed.

Edward nodded. "Physically, I can't resist Jake," he said softly. "And when I'm with him, I forget that she's gone. I forget that I ever met her, for minutes at a time. But when he's gone…" He curled his hand into a fist and held it over his heart. "The guilt is a physical pain. And yet, when I return to you all, I'm surrounded by your relief and happiness. I don't know how to feel."

Carlisle was quiet for a moment. He wanted to be sure he would say this as it needed to be said – needed to be sure that Edward would hear and listen.

"Be happy," he said softly. "Just be happy, Edward. Even Alice can't see how all of this will end, but for now, set your guilt aside. Isabella is gone, and you and Jacob are both here. Let yourself heal. You have all the time in the world."

* * *

Jacob waited until he couldn't hear Edward anymore, until he couldn't smell the vampire on the air.

And then he whooped and leapt and punched the air, his laughter ringing out over the trees.

"_YES!"_


	8. Chapter 7

"Ah, Bella," Aro sighed, his face warm with pleasure. "You are exquisite."

Bella blinked slowly at the face in the mirror Demetri held up for her. She raised her hand to her cheek, somehow surprised when her reflection copied her.

"I…" She couldn't believe it. Was this creature _her?_ This stunning Goddess was Isabella Swan? Really? She had been sure, as Aro's venom consumed her from the inside out, that her body was being burned and charred, would be left a mess of ash and dust. But it wasn't so. The soft electric lights illuminated skin like polished marble and pearl, and her eyes shone like rubies, rich and bright and surprisingly beautiful.

She had thought that they would disturb her. They didn't.

"It can be disorientating," Aro said kindly. He gestured for Demetri to take the mirror away, and he left instantly, unobtrusively. It didn't matter: the image of her own face was imprinted on Bella's memory, at the forefront of her mind. "How do you feel?"

Bella considered this. There was so much room for consideration! Her mind felt huge – if her human thoughtspace had been a playground, then this was like having a football stadium to play in.

"Excited," she said finally. "Happy. Exhilarated." She grinned, watching dust motes dance, watching Aro's face, watching the threads of the soft carpet wave in the draft from under the door. "There's so _much_! Everywhere!" Sightsmellsound, touchtaste, a hundred thousand different sensations to identify and process, a hundred thousand thoughts flickering through her mind, each one branching off into hundreds more – and they never tangled, she never lost track, she could hold all these thoughts in her mind simultaneously and it was _amazing_. "How can you…?"

"Get used to it? Simple, my dear." Aro, smiling, took a seat on one of the low, plush chairs, watching as she rose to her feet and began touching everything in the room, letting her ultra-sensitive fingertips register the differences in sensation between polished wood, metal, carpet, plaster, wallpaper, velvet, silk, cotton. "Experience. Practice. It will come naturally to you." His eyes followed her, seeming to take pleasure in her delight.

And it _was_ delight. It was amazing to be able to move so fast so effortlessly, even if it was only across a room and not on some racetrack. The sensations that rippled over her skin and through her threatened to send her mind careening in a thousand directions at once – and the glimpses of her reflection in the polished wood surfaces made her insides shiver with excitement and rapture.

It wasn't that she was vain. She never had been; she couldn't keep up with the thousands of hair care products and skin creams, never knew what was in current fashion and what was 'so yesterday'. She didn't care enough to keep up, she supposed. In Phoenix she had been a nobody, with no one to impress. In Forks, she hadn't seemed to need to do anything at all to have them all drooling over her. More than once, she had tried to choose clothes that made her look _unattractive_ – Edward never cared about her clothes and maybe it would make the other boys back off.

But she hadn't been able to get even that right.

Now, though – now, she saw her face, and her hair, and her eyes glittering like jewels, and she thought _Now I'm more beautiful than Jacob could ever be._

And she felt safe.

"Bella?" Her head snapped up to Aro, and cocked before she could think through possible responses. "My dear, are you not thirsty?"

The moment he mentioned it, it seemed as if the whole world narrowed in on her throat – on the white fire that suddenly blazed up in it, hot and hungry and _demanding_. Her vision stained red and her fingers curled into vicious claws as a shudder ran down her spine, transforming her from girl to monster in an instant.

"Yes," she moaned. Her hands flew up to clutch at her throat; her tongue felt shriveled, and the thirst was so intense – it was as if Aro's venom were still in her body, blazing in her neck. "I – I need –"

She couldn't speak past the fireball lodged in her throat. There was nothing else – the world blurred and turned hazy, all her focus turned inward on the _burning._

Aro nodded. Bella didn't see how it happened, but the door opened and the _smell_ – the _scent_ of the delicacy that was ushered into the room – if she had thought that her thirst was terrible before, it was nothing to this. The fire went supernova, exploding inside her throat and head and upper chest, and every thread that linked her mind to her body was burned to ash in half a heartbeat.

There was no thought, no consideration, no hesitation. Bella's body lunged without asking for permission, her limbs moving in smooth synchronization to grab and clutch and restrain something soft and warm that broke apart under her fingers. She heard screaming, but it sounded very far away, and muffled, like nothing so much as hearing your name called while you were underwater. It wasn't urgent enough to pay attention to.

Unlike this _thirst_.

Her teeth snapped and sliced through the soft stuff like razors, and then – and then –

_Ecstasy. _

There were no words that could do justice to the smell, the sensation, the _taste_ that poured out over her tongue and down her throat, soothing her parched tissues, spilling out over the fire and quenching it in a _hiss_ of blood-coloured steam. It was perfect – ambrosia, nectar, ichor, distilled sunlight, warm and rich and so unbelievably _good_ that she sucked at it like a slush puppy on a summer day, eager, hungry, determined to get every last drop. It was everything she'd ever wanted, everything her new body needed, and when no amount of biting or sucking would reward her with a few more drops, she dropped the container angrily, her body still shivering with the pleasure of the ultimate satisfaction.

She licked her lips, and then her fingers, which were somehow also bloodstained. Each smudged droplet burst over her tongue like a firework, and she cleaned her skin hungrily.

"Well done," Aro praised from a corner of the room, and Bella smiled at him; she felt warm, full, so satisfied she had to resist the urge to purr. Nothing in her life had ever made her feel this good. "Truly, I am amazed. I would almost go so far as to claim that you were born to be one of us, Bella." He stepped forward, taking her hands and kissing the pale, smooth knuckles; she watched him lazily. "You are a natural. Not even a moment of hesitation…" He shook his head with pleasure.

Her body had no need to blink, but Bella did anyway to express her confusion. "Why would I hesitate?"

Aro gazed at her – and then nodded with a smile. "Of course. My apologies. I thought we might have some trouble convincing you of the necessity, but I should have known that a young woman of your intelligence would not be swayed by Carlisle's backwards philosophies."

Something cold coiled in Bella's stomach, but it wasn't enough to curdle the blood she'd taken. That stayed warm and settled in her belly, as if nothing could leech the pleasure she'd taken from it. "Carlisle…?"

She glanced down before she could stop herself.

"Indeed. But it is an undeniable truth, my dear; human blood is the only healthy diet for a vampire," Aro said blithely. "Carlisle and his _vegetarians_…" He sighed mournfully. "It is such a shame. And such a talented coven, to forfeit their full strength…"

Bella wasn't listening; she could only stare in growing horror at the crumpled, broken corpse at her feet. It was impossible to make out if the person had been a man or a woman, or what age they were; her grip on their shoulders had torn them apart, and her feeding frenzy had crushed half of the person's face. She couldn't make out the other side; it was pressed against the carpet, hidden from view.

It felt unreal. Surreal. She couldn't compute the body lying on the floor like a discarded rag. Her mind, which just a moment ago had skipped and raced boundlessly over a billion separate thoughts – everything from marvelling at her new senses to imagining Edward's reaction at her new face, smug pleasure that Jacob's could not compete and curiousity about Aro, Jane, the rest of the Volturi and what-happens-now – faltered and stuttered at the thought that she had killed another human being.

_Except it's not ANOTHER human being, _she thought suddenly, as coolly and clearly as if Aro had pierced her thoughts through his grasp of her hands and gently chided her for her guilt. _I'm not human anymore. I'm not one of them. _

She tilted her head at the mess on the floor, silently marvelling how, even as she looked at it, some subtle change turned a tragedy into road-kill in her eyes.

It shouldn't have been so easy to just brush off. Dimly, she knew that. But why should she care? There was so much more to care about! She could feel strength boiling through her veins and she couldn't wait to test it, to see how fast she could run and how much weight she could lift! She wanted to start her training with the Guard immediately, right _now_, wanted to master her gift and be the best so that when she went back to Edward, she would be flawless.

Blood-red rage swept through her abruptly, without warning, as she remembered what else was waiting in Forks.

"…And now I think you should meet the rest of the Guard," Aro declared, and Bella returned her attention to him with a smile. "Many of them are eager to meet our newest recruit."

"I can't wait to start," she said honestly, fury disappearing in an explosion of light and excitement. Yes! To use her new strength, to master it, to learn all that she could! How fun, how exhilerating, how _right_.

Aro smiled at her and released her hands, gesturing for her to follow. She did so, stepping over the corpse without a backward glance.

She would become the best so that when she went back to Edward, and back to Forks, she could rip Jacob limb from limb.

* * *

Mastering the basic skills of the Volutri's guard did not prove too much of a difficulty. Bella's body – she had to remind herself at times that it was her _new_ body, now that her memories of her human life were blurred and murky and hard to feel a part of – had instincts that leant themselves easily to combat. The same part of her that thought nothing of ripping out a human's throat loved the thrill of violence, the surge of adrenalin and rage and fierce, smug enjoyment that she was so much stronger than even the most skilled fighters.

Of course, it wouldn't last. A newborn's strength started to wane around the one-year mark, they told her, but Aro encouraged her to enjoy herself while it lasted and she didn't hesitate to do so.

It was hard to put into words, the ease with which she left her human life behind. Suddenly, all those things that had once seemed so important…just weren't. All the drive and the focus her human heart had possessed, and that had been divided between school and family and hobbies and Edward, was now condensed into one beam of light and magnified a hundredfold.

All she wanted was to claim her mate. And to do that, she needed to train.

Now that she was a vampire, Caius' opinion of her had heightened considerably. He seemed to have forgotten that she had ever been human at all (she wondered if he even remembered that _he_ had been a mortal, once upon a time. A very long time ago). After she was done training with Demetri and Felix for the day – and vampires, she found, fought like nothing human but like cats, with strength and grace and _speed_ – she tended to spend her time exploring the vast stretches of the Volturi's underground kingdom.

Once, she had found Caius' suite. The king's scent was thick in the hallway, and Bella needed no teaching to be able to tell that Caius came this way often; it was one of those instincts that didn't seem to need any kind of cultivation.

She was just turning to go – Caius didn't seem to like anyone, and it probably wasn't a good idea to get caught here – when one of the doors opened, and he stepped out into the hallway.

Bella froze, but Caius didn't seem perturbed. "Bella. I was just about to send a runner to look for you." Runners were humans the Volturi used for sending messages to one another in their giant maze underground. Vampires were faster, of course, but if one was busy doing something else… Most of the runners were in their early teens, taken from Italy's countryside when they were just children, and they had a tendency to hover. "Come in. I wanted to talk to you."

An animal wariness shivered into place over her surprise, and Bella stepped through the doorway lightly, avoiding a casual touch. She couldn't imagine what Caius would want with her.

But he wasn't one to mince words; the moment the door closed behind her he began.

"I want the werewolves, Bella."

"What?" Her eyes narrowed; she hadn't turned away from him because she didn't trust him.

He rolled his eyes. "The werewolves. Jacob's pack." His eyes searched hers, his mouth slowly curling into a smirk. "You do remember Jacob, don't you?"

Rage. White-hot, burning, a supernova more vicious and intense than even the thirst; it snapped into place in her heart as if it had never left. Emotions were like that now; deep and simultaneously sudden and lasting.

"Yes," she hissed, resisting the urge to snap her teeth.

Caius glared at her display, but allowed it. "Jacob lied. No werewolf survives without a pack. They die," He snapped instead. He moved; began to pace restlessly, quickly. To a human, he would have been no more than a blur, even as Bella's vampiric vision followed him with ease. "Aro allowed the lie. Marcus spoke for the first time in a decade, and the old fool hoped that our allowing him his way would encourage him to reawaken. And Aro wanted it to be true; capturing a lone wolf is much easier than taking a pack."

"Because they're dying?" Bella suggested.

A glimmer of approval. "Obviously," Caius sneered, but she didn't let it faze her; she held on to that approval, glowing with it. "But the dog was healthy." He stopped, and pinned her with his gaze; despite herself she'd taken a half-step back before she knew what she was doing. "Did you know of a pack?"

She hesitated, but with lightening-speed decided that he would find out eventually. "Yes." She said – and stepped forward challengingly when he snarled. "But I wanted to be trained before I told you all!"

That made him pause. "Why?" He asked suspiciously.

She bared her teeth in a savage grin. "So that I could be part of the Guard that goes to collect them."

This time the approval was stronger; it flickered across Caius' face for a full instant before he sneered. "Don't be stupid, girl. The Guard will not go after a werewolf pack." She blinked, confused, and he rolled his eyes and pointed at the door. "Get out," he hissed.

She ran.

Despite how the conversation had ended, Caius had seemed to look on her more favorably now. Several times, he came into the training hall to watch her spar with the other Guard, an unreadable expression in his eyes.

It made her nervous. "What do you think he wants?" She asked Felix as they wrestled on the stone floor one day, almost two months after she'd been changed.

Felix shrugged, and slammed his hand into her solar plexus. There was no breath to knock out of her but Bella went flying back, landing easily on the tips of her toes and her fingers. It was so laughably simple to preform feats no human could; the world seemed to move so slowly, leaving ample time for her limbs to do as she wanted. "If they want you to find out, you will," he said idly. "Now; again."

Bella knew that in any given school of martial arts, it took years of training to adapt your reflexes and instincts for battle – and that, in most of the Eastern schools paticularly, the point was largely on _avoiding_ a combat situation. Fighting as a vampire was not like that. The training Bella received was not about controlling and subjugating her now-natural urge for violence, but about honing it. Rather than just allowing her instincts to run wild, the Guard were teaching her to involve her mind when she attacked or defended.

An experienced warrior could defeat a newborn's strength, and Bella wouldn't have her extra power for long anyway. Time seemed to fly by when you never slept. But it was so _hard_ to try and focus when it was so easy to take whatever she wanted, when her temper simmered constantly beneath her skin, always ready to errupt and wash the world in red. It took work, learning how to blend the instinctive savagery that roared in her heart with her lightening-sharp intelligence.

But the result, she was sure, would be worth it.

Learning to fight was just practise, over and over and over, but trying to gain control of her ellusive 'shield' was much more difficult. The Volturi had dealt with shields before – Bella hadn't met Aro's personal bodyguard, but someone had told her about Renata, the vampire woman whose influence turned would-be attackers away from the Volturi's king.

"When will I get to meet her?" Bella growled with frustration after yet another useless session. It felt intrinsically _wrong_ for her mind to feel so tired while her body still moved and felt like a well-oiled machine that could have gone on moving forever. "This is useless! I have no idea what I'm doing!" Beneath her anger – why hadn't Renata come to help her? – was an element of fear; if she proved useless, unable to use her powers to defend the rest of the Guard, what would the Volturi do with her?

She tried to tell herself that she, at least, would be a useful soldier, protected against the gifted vampires of enemy covens. But she knew that was not what Aro had envisioned when he changed her.

Felix eyed her. "I suppose I'd better go get her."

Apparently, the Guard knew just how far to push a newborn before she snapped, because Bella was right on the line.

Renata had been a small woman, and she seemed somehow fragile, even as a vampire. Bella's gaze flicked over her, and she felt a surge of dismissive arrogance, smug pleasure. This was Aro's great shield? The most powerful one they had? Bella would be better.

Renata paused, and Bella wondered if her thoughts had shown on her face. If they had, Renata didn't comment on them.

"Aro tells me you've been having trouble?" She said simply, and with a handful of words changed Bella's view from dismissive to wary. It was a subtle barb, but even with the sharply twisting thoughts and emotions of a newborn Bella could pick up on it, and it took physical effort not to bare her teeth and snarl.

It was a reminder that Renata was close to Aro, and Bella was not. It was a message that Aro knew full well that, as of yet, Bella was completely useless.

It was a warning that Renata was valuable, and Bella was not.

It had been a mistake to ignore the dark grey robes. A spineless creature would never survive with the Volturi.

"Yes," she muttered through gritted teeth. "I don't know how to control my shield."

She was not nearly as beautiful as Rosalie, but when Renata arched one delicate eyebrow Bella was reminded of Edward's glorious sister. "Let's see what we can do about that."

* * *

It was best, Renata explained, to master any gifts a vampire might have while they were still a newborn. The rapid, powerful emotions were easy to take advantage of in the training.

"It is usually rage that makes the best fuel," Renata said idly, watching Bella consideringly. "And the protective instincts. We must have something you care about."

After a quick discussion, Bella was forced to admit that there was nothing she much cared about but Edward.

"And loyalty to the Guard," she added hastily, realising that saying nothing but Edward might not be the healthiest option for her.

Renata and Felix exchanged glances, but the shield said only 'Hmm,' and left them.

They didn't hear from her for two days. Bella wasn't really certain what Renata had meant by 'we must have something you care about'; would the Volturi kidnap Edward? Her mind fragmented so as to consider the dozens of possibilities all at once, simultaneously daydreaming that she would have Edward with her soon and ducking Felix's hand clawing for her throat.

On the second night, Bella was practising alone in the training hall when one of the runners told her that the kings wanted her in the throne room.

Even now, almost three months since she'd been turned, it took everything she had not to lunge and tear the runner's neck wide open – he was maybe fourteen, and his blood turned her throat into a desert as she walked past him in the hallway, even when she held her breath. The memory of the scent lingered, fuzzing her thoughts, but even as they blurred she forced herself to think of something else.

Like why Aro, Caius and Marcus could want her.

When she walked into the white marble room, she stopped dead.

"Edward!" She cried, huge, boundless joy bursting open inside her as she ran forward, arms wide open –

But it was not Edward, and in a tenth of a second she stopped. Dissapointment swept over her like a black wave, and confusion, and sadness.

"A present," Caius said idly from his throne, his garnet eyes fixed on her, "With my compliments."

The human – she should have realised he wasn't Edward at once, but she had so _wanted _him to be Edward! – really did look shockingly like her mate, especially from behind. But as she walked slowly around to face him from the front, she noticed differences that would have been quite subtle to another human – like the colour of his skin, which was pale but nothing like the snowy perfection of a vampire; or the angle of his jaw and cheekbone, the one too sharp, the other forming too much of a curve; and the coppery richness of his hair was darker than Edward's.

She couldn't see his eyes, because he was unconscious, only held upright by Demetri's firm grip on his shoulder, but Bella wondered if they were green.

"I don't understand," she said slowly, staring at the boy's face. It would be easy – too easy – to blur out the differences and imagine that she was looking at her mate. If Edward ever slept, or fell unconcious. Which as a vampire, he didn't.

"Renata has designed a teaching plan for you," Aro smiled from his throne. "The boy is to play a part in it."

"Oh," Bella said. She cocked her head at the human, frowning. "Alright." How he was supposed to help, she didn't know, but the Volturi likely knew what they were doing.

"You really have no trouble controlling your thirst, do you?" Marcus said suddenly, watching her closely.

Bella's head jerked up at him, surprised. She hadn't once heard Marcus speak in all her time in Volterra, and it was hard to believe that the silent king was addressing her. "Sir?" She said hesitantly. Some of the Guard called Aro and the others 'lord', but Bella's tongue had always stumbled over that; she was American, after all. 'Sir' was the best she could do without feeling some involuntary rebellion.

"Your thirst, girl," Caius said impatiently. "Don't you feel it?"

She blinked once. "Yes, of course," she said, uncertain. What did they want to hear? What was she supposed to say? The kings had all this power behind them, power that she, as a newborn, felt and feared instinctively. The new animal she had become knew that fear and respect were intertwined, inseparable. "It's terrible."

"And yet you have not moved to attack him," Aro said musingly, gesturing lazily at the human boy. "Truly, your control is breathtaking."

Bella wasn't sure how to respond to that.

Aro waved a hand. "Dismissed, Bella."

She half-ran from the room.

* * *

The next time she met Felix for training, Renata was there before her.

So was the human boy.

Bella stopped in the doorway, resting one hand on the wooden frame. Her eyes locked on him, and for a split second the whole world washed red.

_Prey_.

It wasn't even a coherent thought; nothing so logical and clear and rational. It was more like being punched in the face, or smashed in the forehead with a hammer; something sudden and violent and all-consuming, so bright and hot that it was agony, instantaneous and as flawless and beautiful as a razor. Flames erupted in her throat and venom – sweet, like honey on her tongue – rushed into her mouth, the way saliva had when she was still human.

Every single cell screamed for the blood she could _hear_ in the boy's veins. And yet she didn't make one move to take it.

It was not that she didn't want it. Bella couldn't imagine craving anything more – even the memory of Edward paled in comparison to the thirst, to the taste of rich, hot blood on her parched tongue. But she didn't want to take it. She didn't want to lose control. Not in front of Felix and Renata; not in the midst of the Volturi stronghold, surrounded by older, stronger vampires who could rip her to pieces with ease. She needed to be able to keep her head, needed to be able to control herself. If she couldn't, then she was vulnerable whenever she became thirsty, or whenever she smelled blood. It wasn't safe.

And so she just…stayed in control. It wasn't as if she hadn't known that it would be difficult. She'd been prepared. It was one of the hardest things she had ever had to do, but it was a simple thing, too.

She closed her eyes and stopped breathing. "What's he doing here?" She asked quickly.

"He's part of your training." A flutter of fabric told her that Renata had moved forward. "We must use your protective instincts to awaken your gift. That's what he's here for."

Bella opened her eyes again, warily inspecting the human. (_Human_. It was so easy to think of them as something other and separate from herself).

"Did you drug him?" She asked in disgust. There wasn't much air left for talking; she snuck another breath, almost gagging as the stink of something subtly _wrong_ burned her nostrils. The boy's green eyes were glazed and misted over, as if he were particularly drunk, and he didn't even try to move from where someone had propped him against a wall. His clothes were dirty, too, and his hair was greasy. _Edward would never allow himself to look like this_.

Renata made a dismissive gesture. "It's not as though he needs to be aware for this." She fixed Bella with a piercing stare. "So long as you can convince yourself that it's your mate lying there, this will go just fine."

Bella frowned and looked back at the human. "Alright," she said finally. "What do I have to do?"

* * *

They key is anger. What Renata calls the protective instinct – and anger. Those two things allow Bella to stretch her shield out past her skin to protect another person – and then another, and another, and another. Until she has a bubble stronger than steel, keeping back Jane's lightening and Alec's mist, Aro's touch and even, when Aro commands him to try, Marcus' sight.

It's not hard to get angry.

At first, they try and make her mad by attacking the human boy she's supposed to think is Edward. Only he's not, and she knows it, and it doesn't work.

In frustration, Renata ordered her to focus on something that made her furious.

"Project the anger from yourself!" She ordered. "Use it to push out the boundaries of your shield. Your shield is inflatable and your anger is the pump."

From then on it's the easiest thing in the world.

Jacob, climbing in through Bella's window and finding the photograph of Edward. _ (Was that when he imprinted? It must have been)._ _Stealing_ the photo.

Jacob, running off with Alice without so much as glancing back for Bella.

Jacob, walking into the car lot as if he owned the place, making his declaration as though he'd already won.

Jacob, Jacob, _Jacob_. All she has to do is remember his smug face to feel the white-hot rage and make her shield explode outwards. It's simple, it's easy, so she ignores what Renata says about controlling it with her mind instead of her emotions. She's supposed to slowly move from needing anger to being able to summon it up at will; but she can't wait for that. She needs to get back to Forks and rescue Edward. Who knows what it's been like while she's been gone?

Maybe Jacob's already tried to make a move on her mate. The thought makes expanding her shield even easier.

After four months, when imagining Jacob in bed with Edward is enough to cover the whole of the Volturi stronghold in her psychic-suppressing shield, Renata declares her ready for fieldwork with the rest of the Guard.

But she never gets the chance.

* * *

"Bella, Aro wants you in the throne room."

Bella looked up from the book she's pretending to read. "I'll be right there."

"Ah, Bella," her sire said happily as she entered the room, "We have need of your skills. Please."

He gestured, and she turned to follow where his hand pointed. Only then did she notice the vampire being held on her knees by two of the Guard.

Only then did Bella recognise her.

"We have been informed that she has a gift for escapes," Aro said blithely. "I would appreciate it if you would do something to remedy that."

You did not tell Aro that your powers didn't work that way. Unless the ability was…well, supernatural or psychic, her shield was useless. But rather than tell him that – besides, she was sure he knew, there must be some other reason he desired her presence – she summoned up Jacob's face in her thoughts.

Red washed her vision, and she caught the rage and twisted it outwards, letting it push the boundaries of her shield from her skin outwards like blowing up a bubble. She wrapped it around Aro, Marcus, and Caius; then the two guards. Bringing Victoria under the shield would let her use her gift, so at that point Bella dipped her head in a bow to let Aro know she was done.

"Splendid. Now, Bella," and Victoria's head snapped upright, her eyes wild with disbelief as her gaze locked onto Bella, "as our youngest newborn, could you perhaps tell us what happens to those who risk exposing our race to the human world?"

That was an easy one. Allowing a small smirk to curl her lips as she watched Victoria, Bella answered. "They die."

"Precisely," Aro almost purred. "Now, this woman has willfully and knowingly created more newborns than she could control, in the midst of a human city. They were running riot, killing indiscriminately and destroying – well, rather hideous architecture, actually, but nevertheless…"

"…making it a little bit obvious that something was going on," Bella continued for him. She resisted the urge to beam at Victoria. Had she really been afraid of Victoria once? It was so long ago. When Bella was just another _human_.

_And now look, bitch. I'm standing with the Volturi, and you're about to be executed. _

Aro _did_ beam. "Exactly! Now really, Victoria," he chided their prisoner. "Bella is only four and a half months old, and she already knows the rules. How long has it been since you were reborn?"

Victoria spat at him. "She killed my mate!" She shrieked, but didn't even try to struggle against the hold of her captors. "I'm owed her death!"

Bella didn't wait for Aro to respond. "_Edward_ killed James," she snarled. "Not me. I've never killed anyone, Victoria!"

"Would you like to?"

Bella glanced at Aro, surprised. "Excuse me?"

Aro looked at her consideringly. "Would you like to kill someone? To be specific, the vampire who wanted you dead?"

For a split second, Bella almost said _no_. Kill someone? Taking Victoria's head in her hands and snapping her neck, ripping her body apart and setting her on fire – that was very different to finding dinner in someone's throat. Her fingers flexed with distaste at the thought of ending a life, one that could stretch on forever if you just avoided getting on the Volturi's bad side.

But then she thought of Jacob telling her she was weak, and her lips pulled back in a smile.

"Please," she purred.

Victoria's eyes widened.

And the crack her neck made between Bella's hands resounded through the hall.

* * *

But that isn't the end of it. The memory is caught in Bella's mind like a fly in a spider's web, and she takes hold of it, tightly, spins sticky thread around it so that it won't get loose. She ruminates on it, and ponders it, and with her thousand-faceted mind she keeps it always under the microscope, peering, thinking, forming a plan.

When she is ready, she goes unsummoned to the throne room, and formally tells the three kings that she lied.


	9. Chapter 8

Every day when the bell rang to let the students of Forks High out of class, Jacob was waiting in the parking lot. Standing astride his motorbike with a leather jacket over his shoulders and a wicked grin on his face, he waited just long enough for Edward to come running out before kicking the bike stand and carrying the two of them – laughing like maniacs – away.

The first time he'd clawed up the nerve to visit the school, most of the other students had been expecting a fight. Everyone knew that Bella had run away – though none of the rumors guessed just how far she'd gone – and from the look on Mike's face the little twerp must have thought Jacob blamed Edward for it and had come looking to butt heads. Certainly the shock on Edward's face when Emmett nudged him and pointed was in theme.

But Jacob hadn't been able to keep from ruining the façade with a smile that had melted from nerves into pure, tender softness.

Edward's shock had turned to pleased surprise and happy embarrassment, and it had made Jake's heart swell to watch the vampire walk towards him, looking so unbearably –

"Cute."

Whatever Edward had been going to say was lost: he stared in pure disbelief. "Excuse me?"

Jacob hadn't meant to say that out loud. But once he had… "Cute," he said again, feeling a grin stretch over his face. "You, fang-face, are the cutest thing I have e_ver_ seen." He had to resist the urge to catch Edward's cheek in his hand, to taste his mouth in front of all the students staring from the corners of their eyes. "God, I love you."

A flicker of delight, quiet and understated like fine porcelain, ran across Edward's face, and the vampire struggled not to laugh. "You are incorrigible." He shook his head, making his beautiful coppery hair shimmer in the afternoon light. "What are you doing here?"

Jacob shrugged, abruptly nervous again, almost shy. "I thought you might like a lift."

He could feel his cheeks beginning to burn as Edward raised an eyebrow and looked back pointedly at the glossy, expensive cars his siblings had driven to school that morning. "You did, did you?"

"Well." He was definitely blushing now, dammit, but he tried to play it cool, kicking at the bike stand and setting the motorbike upright. "If you'd rather not…"

Edward's eyes flicked around the parking lot, a sharp reminder that the Cullens had been trained from rebirth not to rock the boat. Be smart, but not freakishly smart. Play sport, but stick to the sidelines whenever possible. And never, ever make a spectacle of yourself.

Getting on the back of a motorbike with a werewolf probably counted as making a spectacle.

"Don't worry about it," Jacob murmured, understanding in an instant. "I shouldn't have asked."

Edward's eyes shot to his. The clear gold was unreadable, even to Jacob.

"No," he said finally. "You shouldn't _have_ to ask." He adjusted the satchel on his bag, and the grin that broke over his face made Jake want to eat him. "Move over."

Laughing, Jacob obeyed, making room for Edward to swing up behind him. "Are you sure about this?"

He felt Edward's hands – cold as ice and wonderful against his own hot skin – slip under his jacket, the vampire's arms locking around his waist as Edward nuzzled Jake's shoulder. "Yes," he murmured simply. "Yes."

That one word – _yes_ – echoed in Jacob's head as the engine roared under them and they pulled away.

* * *

It took Edward all of ten minutes to complete his homework, and Jake hadn't been in school for months. With nothing else making demands on their time, they spent almost every evening together, at the beach or in the woods. Jacob would lie in his bed at night and marvel over how smart Edward was, how well-read and articulate. The vampire had a habit of making jokes in a wry voice that took a second or two to process, but his puns were sometimes so terrible they made Jake groan and dunk Edward in the ocean.

"No!" He would yell, laughing as Edward spluttered, "No, god no, Edward! That was _awful_, you must be punished!"

Only he would forget, then, because Edward would be soaking wet, with his hair in his eyes and his clothes turned tight and translucent, and suddenly it wouldn't be all jokes anymore.

It was the elephant in the room, the hunger they had for each other. Edward could read his mind and Jake could smell it on Edward's skin, but they didn't talk about it. "I want to know you platonically before I know you biblically," Edward had said firmly – and then had to explain what 'knowing' meant in the biblical sense. Jake had agreed – somewhat reluctantly, remembering the taste of Edward's mouth and the beautiful sounds he'd made…

But he wanted Edward to learn him and learn to love him, so he held himself in check.

After a month, though, Edward had put his foot down. "I need some time to myself, Jacob. I am not so gregarious a person that I do not miss my music and my books, much as I enjoy your company."

His wolf had taken it as a rejection, and they had struggled through the difficult conversation. As an imprinted werewolf Jake was almost out the door before Edward saw the turmoil in his mind and called him back to explain. It was incomprehensible to Jacob that Edward could prefer, even sometimes, the company of books to other people; it was hard for Edward to explain the feeling of peace and enjoyment that came from being alone in his own mind for a while.

In the end Jake had gone, unhappy but resigned. When he talked the matter over with Sam, though, the older wolf nodded in agreement.

"A werewolf's love is all-consuming," Sam said. "For some people some of the time, it seems clingy, overbearing." He rested his hand on Jake's shoulder. "Even Emily sometimes takes an afternoon for herself, Jake, and vampires are naturally solitary. Give him a day or two and he'll be fine."

The reassurance worked, and after that Jacob returned to running patrols, a duty he'd neglected in what the pack saw as his first month of courting. From then on Edward had the nights Jake ran patrol to himself, and some of the days too, and when they were together Jacob saw that the subtle tension that had been building in the vampire for a week or two was gone.

* * *

"Jacob, when are you going back to school?"

Jake glanced at Edward in surprise. "I haven't thought about it." They were at the beach again, outside La Push but just as grey and stony, even with summer approaching. Jake didn't feel the cold in just his shorts, but Edward wore jeans and a jacket – both by designers Jake had never heard of – to keep up appearances. "Not until Victoria's dead, I guess. Maybe not even then." He kicked a stone with his bare foot. "We're supposed to keep the tribe safe. It'd be kind of hard to do that from school."

"Mm," Edward agreed, but he was quiet for the rest of the afternoon, and Jake didn't push him. He'd been forced to learn that the vampire was as introspective as Jake was extrospective, and Edward preferred to distill a thought or idea before sharing it.

He didn't share it that day, but a week later Edward asked Jake to dinner.

"My family want to meet you formally," Edward explained. "Particularly the girls. Jasper and Emmett are more amused by the whole thing, I think. And Esme will cook." He looked almost nervous. "Is there anything you especially like? I'm sure she would rather make your favourite, something you'd enjoy."

Jacob had wracked his brains for something that wasn't macaroni-and-cheese, finally muttered something about spaghetti before fleeing.

Jacob hadn't visited the Cullen's house before, and he spent two days fretting and searching for clothes before Quil and Embry sat on him.

"Jesus, Jake, chill!" Embry ordered as Jacob growled and struggled to throw them off. "It's just a dinner!"

"It's a _meet the parents _dinner!" Jake protested. "I don't know how to do that! What if I screw something up? What if they don't like me? What if –"

Quil slapped him, and Jake snarled.

"Okay, _one_, you saved Edward's _life_," Quil pointed out.

"Twice," Embry added.

"Twice," Quil agreed. "So you already have mega boyfriend points, okay? And two," he carried on before Jacob could interrupt, "Even if they decide they _don't_ like you, is that really going to stop you from seeing Edward?"

A surge of possessive rage drowned out the nerves in an instant, and Jake bared his teeth. "No," he growled.

His boys were nonplussed. "So get up and let's get you dressed already."

"You wouldn't want to be late," Embry added, and ducked when Jake swiped at him.

* * *

"Hey, Mrs Cullen," Jacob smiled nervously when the vampire matriarch opened the door. It had been impossible to find a tux on such short notice up on the rez, and between his wolf and his dad's empty wallet Jake was woefully short on clothes – especially anything resembling formal – but his hair was brushed for once, and he offered Esme a velvet box of chocolates. "I – I brought these."

Her delicate eyebrows lifted in pleased surprise, and she took the box carefully. "Thank you, Jacob! That's very sweet of you." She took a step back and gestured him inside. "Won't you come in?"

Feeling incredibly self-conscious in his last pair of jeans and a black t-shirt Jacob obeyed, sucking in a breath at the décor. The house was impressive enough from the outside, like something out of a magazine or a movie set, but the inside was like nothing he'd ever imagined. It was so different to his own home – all graceful lines and open spaces, shining glass and lovingly polished wood. A porcelain vase held lavender and sunflowers, a combination that was strangely pleasing.

"You have a beautiful home, Mrs Cullen," Jacob said honestly, looking up in awe at the high ceilings. "Wow." It was amazing, but he felt completely out of place – like a grubby mutt in a palace.

Esme laughed, but he could tell she was happy. "Thank you, Jacob. But please call me Esme, everyone here does." She smiled. "And you're practically family now, after all."

Suddenly he didn't feel so out of place.

"Can we come out now?" He recognised Alice's tinkling voice, and her laughter when she was suddenly there in front of him, a black-haired pixie grinning up at him. "Hi Jake."

He grinned back at her. "Hey Alice. I hear you're in charge of organising the wedding. I should probably sit down and discuss a few things with you, huh?"

"Oh, don't start her off," Emmett groaned, coming down the stairs with Rosalie. "It's all she ever talks about!"

Alice stuck her tongue out at her brother, and Jake had to choke back laughter. "Where is everyone?"

"Carlisle and Esme are in the kitchen fixing your food," Alice chirpped at him, and when he glanced around Jake realised that Esme had indeed disappeared. "And Jasper's in Edward's room keeping him calm."

Rosalie was wearing a sapphire-blue velvet skirt with a low-necked black shirt. Emmett's jumper looked like cashmere to Jake – not that he knew from personal experience what cashmere looked like but Edward often wore it – and Alice was decked from head to toe in designer gear. Jacob couldn't help feeling scruffy in comparison; his jeans were clean but patched, and not long ago this had been his work-out shirt.

His stomach twisted into a knot.

"Will you all just be watching me eat?" He asked, trying to sound amused rather than nervous.

"No, just Edward," Alice assured him. "We'll leave you two in peace while you eat."

"But the rest of it's an interrogation," Emmett grinned. "Esme and Carlisle'll be taking turns in the kitchen so they can question you too."

Jacob briefly considered phasing and running right back out. "Right," he managed, feeling strangled. "I guess I'll just have to wow you all with my stunning wit."

"That won't be hard."

Jake's head snapped up instantly at the sound of his mate's voice. In a movie, the rest of the scene would be blurred out now, he thought, with only Edward in focus. The world felt like that already; Alice and Emmett and Rosalie, all his nerves and fears – they melted away, leaving only Edward standing at the top of the stairs. He was heartbreakingly gorgeous in a cream turtleneck and black trousers, with an adorable blend of nerves and determination on his face. Jacob felt his knees go weak as Edward smiled at him coming down the stairs, and it took all he had not to grin back like an idiot.

And then his mate laughed, and Jake's vision registered a copper-haired blur as Edward flit and flung himself into Jacob's arms.

"Chocolate?" Edward's voice was a hot, laughing whisper against his ear, and it took a moment for Jacob to understand.

_Chocolate._ Vampires didn't eat! Oh, _God_!

"Shall we get started?" Jasper asked. (When had he arrived?) Jake just managed to nod, as graceless as a puppet bobbing his head as Edward gently disentangled them. Was he blushing? Jacob was almost positive he was blushing. Oh, God, how could he be so _stupid_? "Alice, if you would…?"

Alice and Jasper led them into the sitting room. Jacob had had practice now at enlarging his center of focus, so he saw the lush sofas and the glass coffee table as well as the way the light gleamed in Edward's hair and made his gold eyes shine – or was that because he was looking at Jake?

Edward made to sit beside his sister, but Jacob instinctively grabbed his wrist and pulled him down beside him.

"No _way_ are you leaving me alone," he said light-heartedly to cover the surge of possessiveness. His mate looked startled, but didn't try to move from Jacob's side; in return Jake kept himself from wrapping his arm around the vampire's waist.

Just.

"So, Jake, what do you think about white roses?" Alice asked when it seemed no one knew how to break the ice.

Jacob blinked. "Roses?" He asked nervously. Nervous because he didn't know or care about flowers, and because he didn't have a clue why she was asking and he was already in over his head –

"For the wedding!"

"Oh, that," Jacob said, feeling a wave of relief crash over him as the vampires groaned and laughed. He leaned forward with a grin. "Well, Alice, here's what I was thinking…"

* * *

"Platypus!"

"Bird!"

"Iguana!"

"Don't even think about it, Alice!" Edward said as his sister opened her mouth to speak. She pouted, and Jacob laughed. Vampires playing Pictionary was kind of insane, but he and Emmett had threatened anarchy if they didn't put the game away to watch a film in a few more minutes.

He excused himself to go to the bathroom, surprised that there was one but grateful for it. The voices of the Cullens trying to interpret Edward's drawings made for a warm burble of background noise as he went up the stairs, homey and heart-warming. Completely different to the loud, raucous mess hall any house turned into when the pack were crammed into it – but in a weird way, just as awesome.

But rather than return to the sitting room afterwards, Jake quietly slipped out of the kitchen door.

It was dark – the sun had set an hour ago – and Jake closed his eyes, breathing in the smells of highway and forest and vampires.

"Just needed some air," he said, turning with a smile when he heard Edward's soft footsteps behind him.

"Pictionary too much for you?" Edward teased, standing on the step. "What do werewolves play instead?"

"We have bonfires and surfing, we don't play kid's games." Jacob struggled not to start laughing again; it seemed so adorable and ridiculous that the creatures he'd always been told were vicious, inhuman and terrifying spent their family evenings playing Pictionary and Charades.

He was about to say more, but Edward leapt down lightly from the steps. The vampire made to move towards him, but froze when he saw Jake's face. "Jacob?" He asked, quiet, suddenly unsure.

Jacob couldn't speak. Vampires shone like jewels in the sunlight, but not under electric or neon. He'd seen Edward blazing for a second or two in Volterra, but not since. The image was seared into his memory, but now he wondered if he'd forgotten how beautiful it had really been. Because this, now, took his breath away.

Standing in the dark, out of the pool of light from the kitchen windows, Edward shone softly. Later, Jacob would remember that moonlight was just reflected sunlight: maybe that was why. But at the time, all he could see was the gentle gleam of his mate's skin, a kiss of silver and diamonds on skin cool and smooth and pale as pearl. Edward was a white flame in the dark, a living star clothed in crystal, and Jacob wanted to fall to his knees at the sight of such an angel.

Edward was breathtakingly, heartstoppingly beautiful, and Jake couldn't have looked away if he'd tried.

His mate watched him, and Jacob saw the progression of belief in Edward's face; saw him hear Jake's thoughts and his subsequent denial; the confusion that Jake didn't wake up and stop thinking these thoughts; the disbelief that slowly melted into surprise…and the same kind of awe that Jake was looking at him with.

"Jake…" He whispered.

Jacob spoke before the vampire could say the words he was so sick of hearing; _I'm not beautiful, you're seeing something that's not there, this body is a monster's. _It hurt like a knife each time Edward shrugged off his compliments or put himself down like that, and Jake wasn't going to let him do it anymore.

"You're magnificent," he said softly. "I've never seen anything…God, Edward…"

Edward looked away and closed his eyes, clenching his jaw, but it was anguish rather than anger on his face, a terrible indecision, as if Edward's beliefs about himself were clashing with Jacob's like crossed swords. "We should go back inside," he said quietly. He sounded as if there were a lump in his throat. "I – Esme will want to say goodbye to you before you go home –"

"Edward." The vampire looked up automatically, and once those glorious golden eyes met his, Jacob knew he had him. There was an almost audible _click_ deep in his chest, a sense of rightness as two halves came together, and the uncertain vulnerability in his mate's face just melted away.

They met in the middle. Edward fisted his hands in Jake's shirt and tried to pull him in at once, but the werewolf stopped him. Jacob's hands slid to encircle Edward's throat, soft and slow and even, and when the vampire gasped at the heat of his palms Jacob caressed upwards, watching every nuance and flicker of his mate's expression until he was cupping Edward's face.

He took a moment, just a heartbeat, to memorise the moment so that he would never, ever forget it – not the quiet confidence and want in Edward's eyes, or the silver diamonds dancing over his skin, or the scents on the breeze.

_Never forget._

And then their lips met.

For an endless moment, it was almost chaste. Innocent in its sweetness. Edward's lips were as perfect and cool as glass, achingly sweet against the blazing heat that Jacob never noticed until he felt the vampire's skin in contrast; his mate's scent was stardust, light and beautiful in the cold wind. And when Edward's fingers threaded only a little hesitantly into Jake's hair, the werewolf thought his heart would stop.

But it didn't stay that way. There was no sudden explosion of heat and passion, no line they tumbled heedlessly across; instead it built, the maddening, all-consuming desire that had underpinned every word and glance and passing touch ever since Volterra. It had simmered and smouldered for months, and with the fuel of their contact it burned brighter and brighter as their mouths pressed harder and harder. They grew bolder without noting their own boldness; Jacob knew Edward's marble softness, his taste and the rich, heady musk coming from the vampire's skin as he pressed closer, and nothing else.

"Jacob," Edward whispered, pulling back from Jake's lips, "I – you should know – I love you too."

Jacob froze.

Joy exploded like the fourth of July in his chest, and he grinned, wider and wider, the grin of a complete and utter moron. "You come back here," he ordered, trying not to laugh, and before Edward could protest Jacob pulled him back and kissed him again. There were no words, no declarations that could do it justice, nothing that could express the thunderstorm-earthquake-tsunami-_explosion_ inside; he felt like a shooting star and he was laughing against Edward's lips, holding him close, putting it all into the kiss the way he'd dreamed of doing. All the love and dedication, the belief and hope and joy, the heartbreaks and the triumphs, the torture and the moments when he'd felt like he could fly; he poured it into Edward's mouth as his heart burst open in his chest.

His mate seemed startled by the onslaught, but then the tension in his shoulders eased, and he pressed back, kissed back, returned Jacob's outpouring of emotion drop for drop. And they fed each other their desire, the lust they'd held back for so long…

"Wait," Edward said suddenly, and his voice was a growl, low and husky in a way that made Jacob's wolf hungry. "Wait. The others – not here –"

Jacob nuzzled Edward's ear and almost purred when his mate shivered. "Where?" He whispered, breathing hot breath against Edward's throat. His hand slid down Edward's spine possessively, loving it when the vampire pressed against him.

But then the vampire spun away, and Jacob caught a glimpse of molten golden eyes and a crooked smirk before Edward turned and ran.

Jacob went wolf before Edward had gone ten feet.

The night embraced him as he leapt forward after the flitting vampire, his teeth bared in a vicious snarl. There was wind in his fur and earth beneath his feet, and nothing on Earth could have hidden Edward's scent from him. It was a thrill, savage and uncivilised and purely animal; adrenalin roared through his veins as he ran, nothing more than a shadowed blur between the trees.

_This is the night when monsters walk…_ They were not human, not either of them. They were predators, creatures of magic, blood-drinker and skinchanger, and beneath the masks of civilised behavior there was something dark and glorious, something that howled with exhilaration at the thrill of the hunt, that loved the fear mingled into Edward's excitement. Edward ran faster than sound, leaving nothing but his scent on the air where he passed, and Jacob loved his mate's strength, his power, his sheer untouched perfection. The werewolf forgot that they were both virgins, that they both had families waiting at home, that there was anything in the world but his mate and the hunger burning hot gold in his belly and threatening to erupt.

_I was born to catch you, Edward. _

_And when I catch you, I'll have you._

The pulsing in his blood grew and grew as Edward made him work for it; it was maddening and thrilling, terrible and delicious. The anticipation strung out like a cord between them, vibrating with the tension, with the hunger, and yet Jake loved it. Loved having a mate who was his equal, who was worthy of the name. He was proud of Edward's speed even as he couldn't wait to get his claws into the vampire.

His ears pricked as he heard Edward stop up ahead.

The trees abruptly ended, opening into a sweeping meadow, and Jacob paused at the treeline. In the moonlight, the grass was silver gilt, the flowers closed for the night delicate ivory and garnets. It was a fairytale come to life, a thing of beauty. A night for magic.

And Edward.

Jacob bowed his head and phased, becoming human in an easy crouch. Without a word, without so much as a thought, he pushed up off the grass and walked towards his mate, naked as the day he was born. He was wild, primal, his cock hard and hot against his stomach, and there was possessive lust in his eyes.

He was fire, and fire is not self-conscious.

Edward's clothes were neatly folded meters away from where he stood, waiting with his head held high. His whole body was illuminated by the moonlight, covering him in an angelic glow. Jacob saw his mate's gauntness, the marks of the influenza, and saw a seraphim who had seen suffering and survived – a diamond that could not be broken.

He was ice, and ice is not afraid.

Jacob grasped Edward's hips and kissed him, pulling the vampire flush against him. Fire met ice and both of them groaned, lightning shooting through them both; they clutched at each other, mouths opening and moving, tongues and teeth and fingers roving over smooth skin. Jacob growled and Edward hissed and the battle was short and sweet; Jacob gasped as Edward raked his back and made him bleed, and Edward jerked and moaned and hid his face against the werewolf's shoulder when Jake held him pinned against his chest and rubbed their hard cocks together, slow and languid and cruel.

"You're mine," he growled, holding Edward still, watching the new pleasure make the vampire try to writhe. "Edward, you're _mine_."

"Yes," Edward breathed – and bit Jacob's shoulder, as fast as a cobra. Jake jerked, surprised by the burst of pain that only made it better, forgetting about the venom until his mate purred "As you are mine."

Jacob threw his head back and howled at the sky – wild and savage and mingled with dark, delighted laughter. The venom would turn the bite into a scar, and Jacob loved it.

"Yes," he husked, dropping to the ground and taking his mate with him, pinning his beautiful glowing diamond on his back in the silver grass. "Always."

He kissed the vampire's mouth. _No more talking_, he growled silently, and just to make sure he slid his tongue between Edward's lips and his knee between the vampire's thighs, revelling in the startled moan from below him.

Edward was so cool, like a snowmelt river when you had a fever; a blessed relief, a hedonistic pleasure, and he tasted so sweet. There was nothing Jacob could name that made up Edward's taste, except maybe for an undertone of animal blood; his mate's mouth tasted like nothing else in the world, and his smell was intoxicating, maddening. When he broke the kiss and bite Edward's jaw, his neck, his shoulder, the vampire's skin was sweet too.

The sounds he made were sweeter still.

They tore at each other. There was no gentleness, and Edward did not submit meekly. Jacob couldn't have borne it if he had. They met like clashing titans, thrusting against each other with the raw need of the untouched, biting, clawing, kissing, licking, their hands roving fiercely. It was raw and powerful and more than either of them could bear; when Jacob pulled Edward's head back and bit his throat the vampire cried out, his cock jerking against his stomach, and Jake didn't hesitate to wrap his hot fingers around it. Virgin? Nerves? The words meant nothing to him.

_Mine._

_My mate. My lover. My Edward._

"Jake," Edward groaned, arching, "Oh, God, Jacob!"

Jacob rumbled his pleasure against Edward's ear, panting; he'd fast realised that Edward found the sound as hot as Jacob did, with a similar reaction. His free hand slid over the vampire's hip and down his thigh, drawing his leg around Jacob's waist; Edward obliged instantly, wrapping both legs around Jacob's enormous hips. He locked around Jacob like a vise, locking them together tightly. "Jacob!"

He was throbbing in Jacob's fingers. So close. "Edward," Jacob said back teasingly, his voice hoarse with want. "Come on, vampire." He caught Edward's ear between his teeth, and whispered. "Come for me."

Edward yelled, arching, pressing needily against Jake's chest. Jacob kept stroking through his mate's orgasm, drawing it out and out, whispering sex into Edward's ear as the vampire drew blood, his nails so deeply embedded in Jake's back.

"Mine," he whispered, growled, "_Mine_." He kissed Edward hungrily, thrusting deep with his tongue before pulling back. "Remember what I told you, Edward? What I'd do to you, when you finally said you loved me?"

Edward whimpered, and the sound set fire roaring under Jake's skin.

"Yeah, you do," he husked, smirking. "I thought you might." His fingers slid through the mess on Edward's stomach – which, somehow, was warm – and kissed his mate's mouth again, lingering, lapping at Edward's lips lazily.

He should have been nervous, unsure, uncertain. He wasn't. He'd rather have had proper lube, the stuff he'd read about, but this would do.

The kiss turned softer. "Tell me to stop whenever," Jacob whispered. "I swear I will."

Edward growled and attacked Jake's mouth, winding his arms around Jacob's neck and kissing hungrily, almost viciously. "Jacob," he ordered, low and soft and the tone going straight to Jacob's cock, "_Take_ me."

Jacob groaned and pressed his come-smeared fingers against Edward's hole, urging the vampire's legs over his shoulders. Lithe, limber Edward did so deftly, and there wasn't a trace of fear or reservation in the gaze that met his; only hunger and impatience – and under that, a well of emotion so pure and honest that Jake could only kiss his mate again.

His cock throbbed and ached, a need more intense than anything Jake had experienced before, but he forced himself to go slowly, even when Edward was squirming with impatience – and if that wasn't the hottest thing ever Jake didn't know what was. One finger became two, and a third for good measure; by the time Jacob had satisfied himself with the slow, gentle stretching they were both close to going mad, Edward fully hard again and hungry.

"Jacob, _now!_ "

And Jacob, unable to bear it one second longer, pushed.

Edward arched; his head fell back, his lips falling open without a sound, and Jacob groaned as the vampire's body opened for him with unbelievable ease. He didn't know how a body hard as marble could give like this, but it did, hedid, Edward did, opening so smoothly that Jacob just glided inside. The sensation was indescribable. It would have been horrible for a human to be where Jake was now; Edward was cold, there was no getting around that. But Jacob was hot, burning hot, and the snowy coolness felt amazing.

As if his mate could ever be anything else.

Jacob stopped, the muscles in his arms trembling with restraint as he held himself still. Edward's body was delicious and tight and perfect around half of Jacob's cock, and if Jake didn't wait a sec he would come and it would be _humiliating_ –

Edward didn't seem to understand that, or maybe he didn't care. Maybe he was too distracted to hear how close to the edge Jake was. That was another reason to pause and go slow, so that Edward could adjust – the vampire was a virgin too, he was supposed to go slow, go careful, go _gently_ –

"Jacob," Edward moaned, and any tender inclinations Jake had snapped.

The vampire made a surprised noise as Jake pulled out abruptly, but Jacob didn't give him a chance to question or protest; he flipped Edward's smaller body and pressed against the vampire's back, catching Edward's neck in his teeth with a growl. This was so much better, so much hotter; his wolf rumbled approval in his chest as he pressed Edward's upper body down and pulled him to his knees simultaneously, his ass in the air, and Edward was cool and small against Jacob's hot bulk, surrounded, protected and possessed and gasping, moaning, squirming deliciously against Jake's chest.

"Much better," Jacob husked, grasping Edward's wrists one-handed and pinning them above the vampire's head on the grass. It made Edward shudder, a subtle relief as he gave up control, spreading his legs when Jacob's knees nudged them, arching his back in a beautiful invitation. "God, you're beautiful, Edward. So perfect."

He bit down on Edward's neck hard, and thrust his hips harder than that as Edward cried out at the sky, an aching keen as Jacob pushed his full length into his mate's body.

It was beautiful, it was simple, it was pure perfection; Edward's body held him as if the vampire had been made for Jacob's girth, smooth and tight and just _perfect_, and there was nothing to be afraid of, no doubts or nerves or hesitation because here and now Jacob knew exactly what to do. It was the simplest thing in the world, easier than phasing or running or kissing; he snapped his hips hard against the cool curve of Edward's body, driving in as deeply as possible, withdrawing quickly so he could do it again, and again, and again, with his mate gasping and moaning below him. Soon Edward's white hips rolled back to meet each thrust, pushed back to rub against Jacob's burning chest like a cat so that Jacob released Edward's neck and kissed it instead, kissed his shoulder and throat and jaw and the side of his face, whispering words to make his mate shudder and jerk; _so good, so tight, you feel amazing, so beautiful, I love you, love you so much, Edward, Edward Edward Edward Edward_.

And suddenly his mate yelled, surprise and pleasure so loud that Jacob thought his mate had come. But he hadn't, and if Jacob had thought it was amazing before, the sex after he found Edward's prostate blew his mind to pieces. Edward's pride and stubbornness dissolved; the vampire writhed on Jacob's cock and begged, begged for _more, Jacob oh God please more, harder, __**harder**_, and when Jacob snarled and gave it to him he arched like a bow and shouted, crying out Jake's name like the name of God. And Jacob learned that his mate's orgasms were always beautiful but even more exquisite when Jake could feel them from the inside, when Edward's body tightened and pulsed and all but tore Jacob's release out of him, pulling him to snap his hips and drive in deep and spill his claim in his mate's insides.

It was minutes before either of them could bring themselves to move. Edward whimpered softly when Jacob gently pulled out, and the werewolf held him chest to chest, wrapping Edward in his arms to keep him warm. As his heart beat slowed, the raging lust faded away, and Jacob's chest welled up with a growing humility as he watched his diamond-kissed angel play with Jake's hair, unable to believe how lucky he was.

"Thank you," he whispered, dipping his head to kiss Edward as softly as he knew how. He felt awed and grateful, humbled that Edward had chosen him, had let Jacob make love to him, had taken Jacob for his first. "For letting me do that. For everything."

Edward kissed back, and Jacob could feel the vampire's lips curved in a smile. His mate's fingertips touched the scar his teeth had left on Jake's shoulder, light and unspeakably tender. "I love you," he said again, soft and smiling and so sweet Jacob's vision blurred with tears. "Thank _you_, Jacob. I…did not realise how much I needed you."

Did the tears spill over? Maybe. Edward brushed Jake's cheek, and it could have been to wipe tears away. "I'll always be here for you," Jacob whispered back, meaning it like he'd never meant anything in his life. "I love you." Except for that.

And it was Hallmark and girly and stupid, but Jake didn't care, because it wasn't actually dumb at all to cup Edward's face and kiss him again, long and slow and achingly soft, as gentle as if Edward was the glass he felt like. And he was crying, silent tears of joy and amazement, relief and gladness and love – but it was okay, because Edward kissed them away one by one, murmuring softly, until Jake slid into sleep in curled around his mate's body.

* * *

"Jake – Jacob, wake up."

Sunlight was streaming down from a bright blue sky; it was such an unfamiliar sight that for a moment Jacob was disorientated.

But Edward was kneeling over him, shaking his shoulder – and even the blazing glory of his skin caressed by sunlight couldn't distract from the urgent fear in his mate's eyes.

Jacob sat bolt upright. "What is it? What's wrong?" Electricity jolted through his skin, ready to phase in an instant if he needed to, and the adrenalin slamming into his veins spiked when he saw Alice standing a few feet away. "Why is Alice here?"

Edward's sister looked apologetic and scared and worried, but it was Edward who answered – and instantly made Jake forget that they were both naked in front of his mate's sister.

"It's Bella," Edward whispered, anguish raw and painful to see in his eyes. "She's coming back."


	10. Chapter 9

There was stunned silence around the table when Jacob finished talking, and Jake didn't blame them for it. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for his brothers and sister to process the bombshell.

"Alice is sure?" Sam asked finally. "There's no chance she might have made a mistake?"

Jacob shook his head. His jaw was clenched tight with the fury boiling under his skin, but he tried to keep his voice level. "The Volturi are sending an army to come and get us," he said again. "Headed by Bella. It'll be here in four days."

"_Why_?" That was Seth. "We haven't done anything to them! The Cullens said Victoria wasn't one of the Volturi, so why the hell do they care about us?"

Jacob met Sam's eyes. The pack alpha was the only one who knew the whole story of Volterra, the only one Jake had told about the collar. "They use werewolves as guard dogs," he said finally, and raised his voice as everyone started shouting. "They use their venom and torture to break your mind and brainwash you, and that's what they want to do with us."

Paul leapt to his feet. "This is your fault!" He shouted at Jacob, hatred twisting his face. "They wouldn't know about us if you hadn't gone after your fucking leech –"

"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you," Jacob snarled. "I told them I was a loner. Alice says –"

"Alice says, Alice says," Paul mimicked mockingly. "When did you become such a leech-lover, Jacob? Oh yeah: when you started fucking your little cold-blooded whor–"

Jacob went for him.

"Enough! Jacob, enough!" Sam shouted, but Jake didn't hear him: his vision was pure red, fire and blood, and by the time Quil, Embry and Jared managed to pull him away Paul's face was a bruised, bloody mess. Jacob snarled and fought his friends' hold as Paul sat up and spat out two teeth, baring the red-stained rest at Jacob.

"That all you got?" Paul spat.

"I said that's _**ENOUGH!**_ " Sam roared. "Paul, shut it. Jacob, control yourself. I need you to answer our questions."

Jacob's breath felt rough in his throat. He shrugged the others off and turned his back on Paul, an effort of will that doubled as an insulting dismissal. "Fine," he forced out. But he couldn't just switch off the anger, and the hurt under that. It had been months since anyone had made a serious jab at Edward, or Jacob for imprinting on him. Quil and Embry teased him sometimes, but it was light-hearted joking, nothing really cutting.

He tried to tell himself that Paul was scared of what they faced, but it was a bitter platitude.

Sam asked questions, and Jake answered. Bella had told the Volturi about the pack. They'd given her permission to create an army, with the understanding that if she failed nothing would lead back to them. The Volturi leech-kings wanted the pack. In return, Bella would kidnap Edward.

"She doesn't think of it as kidnapping," Jake said bitterly. "But it's what she's planning."

"Do any of these soldiers have powers like the Cullens?" Jared asked.

"Alice doesn't think so. But she said they're all newborns."

"Newborns?" Sam said sharply.

"New vampires. They're very strong. Stronger than normal vampires."

A murmur ran around the room. They'd all been taught about vampire strength and once or twice they'd seen Victoria do something superhuman. But none of them had ever gotten close enough to experience it first-hand. And these things coming after them were stronger than that?

"Does Alice know how many there'll be?" Sam asked.

"Maybe thirty," Jake said quietly.

Silence.

"How much stronger?" Leah asked when no one else would.

Jacob closed his eyes. "Five or six times the norm," he whispered.

No one started shouting or yelling this time. No one moved. No one breathed. It was hitting them now, the true hopelessness of the situation dawning on them just as it had Jacob when the Cullens sat him down and explained. Thirty vampires, all of them stronger than anything anyone in the tribe's history had faced, against an inexperienced pack of teenagers. They'd chased Victoria but never caught her, never fought her. None of them but Jacob had even touched a vampire.

"We can't win." Paul's face was already healing, but Jacob didn't feel the urge to mark him up again. Not with his voice so quiet and his eyes gone so empty. "There's no way."

"We can't run either," Jared protested. "They're coming here. What's to stop them destroying the tribe if they don't find us?"

"What's to stop them if they _do_?" Leah demanded. "They'll be thirsty after catching or killing all of us, won't they?"

"Maybe we could evacuate everyone?" Seth suggested tentatively.

The others continued discussing it, but no one was fooled. They might be inexperienced where it counted but they lived in each other's heads, and everyone's fear was bouncing off of everyone else's and growing – and they all knew it. Hearts were racing, lungs constricting, stomachs clenching; Jacob could smell fear and determination and panic and worry and anger and terror. So could everyone else. In minutes the place smelled like a charnel house to werewolf senses and too many voices were barely disguising the pitch of hysteria.

Breathing through his mouth, Jake clenched his hands into fists in an effort to stay still and calm. He didn't move, but it was impossible not to be affected by the anxiety thick as woodsmoke in the room, and in something like desperation he looked for Sam. Sam was their alpha, their leader, the one who had taken each of them aside and guided them through those first horrific weeks of changing. He'd taken a group of rag-tag teenagers and organised them, turned them from nothing into a brotherhood: there wasn't a single one of them, even Leah, who didn't trust him with their lives.

But he was just sitting there. While the pack got to their feet and started shouting at each other, trying to be heard, trying to drown out the threat of the chasm opening beneath their feet… While the pack fell apart around him, Sam just stared at the table without making a sound, without so much as blinking when Embry slapped the table right beside their alpha.

The others were scared, angry, desperate. But Sam – Sam was already despairing.

A chill ran down Jacob's spine.

"No," he whispered. "No. It can't end like this."

He pushed his way forward, and when his palms touched the smooth wooden table the coals smouldering in his chest – the embers that had been glowing softly since the day he was born – erupted into roaring flame, burning away the skin of the wolf he'd been just seconds before. A weight fell from his shoulders.

And another, heavier but fitting him better, settled in its place.

"Quiet."

His voice rumbled, and everyone obeyed instantly. All eyes turned to him. Even Sam's hopeless ones looked up.

Their alpha looked back at them. "This is what we're going to do."

* * *

"Jacob."

"Alice." Jake kept his eyes on the snarling wolves sparring in the clearing. "Leah! Watch it!" To Alice: "You're not supposed to be here."

Leah leapt out of reach of Quil's teeth.

"Actually, you're right on the border," Alice said meekly.

Jake turned his head and frowned. He hadn't realised they were so close, but he'd been looking for the right kind of area rather than scrutinising borderlines. "Sorry." He looked back at the fight. Leah and Quil were locked together, snarling and snapping. "Did you see something?"

"Nothing new," Alice admitted. "But Carlisle sent me. Jacob, we'll fight with you."

Jacob's head snapped to her. "You will? All of you?" He was already imagining how much of a difference it would make – Jasper's empathy, Alice's premonitions… Edward's telepathy. Those three would have a huge advantage over the newborns. And Emmett might even match the newborns for strength.

"All of us," Alice confirmed.

The wave of relief was so intense that he had to take a second to process it. He hung his head, just breathing as he struggled against the wave of almost crippling emotion. "Thank God," he murmured.

Alice touched his shoulder. "Jake, we'd never let you fight alone," she said softly. "Carlisle only sent me because he realised you didn't realise that." Her fingers tightened, a cool comfort. "You're family, remember?" When he looked up at her, she grinned. "It's not like we can let you die _now_. Not after all the work I put into planning your wedding!"

Jacob laughed. "Don't remind me," he mock-shuddered, euphoria teasing the edges of his mind and his eyes, before he sobered. "Alice…"

"Yes, my family and I will teach you how to fight." When he stared, she grinned and tapped her temple. "I might not be able to see _you_, but Jasper's face when I ask him for you is fully visible." Her expression softened. "And yes, Edward is fine. It's…hard for him. But he's strong."

"I know." Unconsciously, he reached up and rubbed the raised scar on his shoulder, a small smile on lips.

Alice cocked her head. "Are you hurt?"

"Not exactly." He lowered his hand. "Could you and the others meet us here tonight? The sooner the better." He felt the minutes trickling away like sand in an egg-timer, counting down to Bella's arrival.

Alice cocked her head; Jacob wasn't sure if she was thinking about it or seeing at what time her family would leave their home this evening. "Six o'clock?"

Jake felt a slight easing of tension in his chest. "Perfect." He didn't let himself feel hopeful, but after the exhilaration of moments ago he was settling into something like calm. They had some kind of chance now. They _did_. He refused to accept otherwise.

* * *

It wasn't quite dark when Jake led the pack into the agreed-on clearing. They came from upwind, but even so they could smell the Cullens long before the vampires were in sight.

Jacob paused. The others stopped in an arrow-head formation behind him as Jake glanced from one end of the Cullens' line to the other, amazed by the difference between the vampires he'd been starting to get to know and the ones facing him. He knew the Cullens as people – people, not vampires – who wielded culture and finesse like weapons. They had classics on their bookshelves and Austrian composers in their stereos, supersonic cars in the garage and clothes in their wardrobes that cost more than the entire tribe's earnings for a decade. Amongst themselves they talked about history and art and philosophy and science, topics Jacob didn't even recognise, much less ones he was able to follow. And they played light-hearted games of charades to put the new boyfriend at ease.

These were not those people. The six creatures facing the pack now were _vampires_ – pale, icy, grimly determined. They wore dark clothes that clung tight to their granite-hard bodies, and even Rosalie's hair was tied back and tucked into the back of her shirt, out of reach of attacking hands.

It was the hair that struck it home for him.

Carlisle stepped forward when Jacob took too long to react. "My son Jasper has experience in this area," he said calmly, raising his voice somewhat so that his words rang out clearly. "He will teach us how they fight, how they are to be defeated. I'm sure you can apply this to your own hunting style. Please feel free to ask questions. If you feel you would rather not transform to do so, my son Edward," he gestured to the dark form to his right, "will translate for you."

_Edward_. Jacob's heart clenched in his chest, but he stifled the pang of longing, knowing that already his emotions were reverberating through the pack-mind. He hadn't seen his imprinted since Alice brought the news, but now was not the time. Especially not with the entire pack listening to his every thought.

Alice's mate stepped forward to stand between the two groups. The failing light stroked his hair, and Jacob forced himself to focus. "They'll fight like children," Jasper addressed them – all of them, his family and the wolves both. "The two most important things you'll need to remember are, first, don't let them get their arms around you and second, don't go for the obvious kill. That's all they're prepared for. As long as you come at them from the side and keep moving, they'll be too confused to respond effectively…"

Now and then, someone directed a thought Edward's way, and Jacob's mate would murmur something to Carlisle or Jasper, who would then answer. When the sun was almost hidden behind the horizon, Jasper instructed the wolves and vampires to pair up and practice.

It was a tense moment. Jacob was comfortable with the Cullens and they with him, but few of the other wolves had even seen a Cullen before now. None of _them_ had imprinted on vampires – none of them had an imprint to supersede the instincts that vampires were enemies.

With a snort, Quil padded forward to a grinning Emmett. After that, pride did what all else could not, and wolves and vampires began to wrestle – first tentatively, then more enthusiastically as both sides relaxed – while Jasper walked up and down the ragged line, critiquing and making suggestions and improvements. Of course, there were ten wolves to six vampires, so there was some maneuvering involved; Quil and Embry took turns with Emmett; Sam, Leah and Seth with Carlisle; and Jacob and Paul doubled up on Jasper when he wasn't giving instructions.

Jacob sat out, watching intently. He was waiting.

Sure enough, after a while he smelled the most familiar scent in the world. "Room for one more?"

He phased to keep the coming moments private. The grass felt cool against his bare skin; somehow it seemed ridiculous to be modest or embarrassed of his body. Edward had seen every inch of it, after all.

He liked how the rising moon made his new scar glow, and the soft smell of musk that came off Edward when he saw it.

"Always," he said simply.

Edward sat down beside him. Jacob's heart was pounding, and not with adrenalin caused by the sight in front of them; his packmates snapping and snarling with creatures all their instincts demanded they kill. But it really did seem to be going well; Embry and Quil looked more like they were playing a game than practicing for the fight of their lives, and Seth was playing around like a puppy.

"I apologise for my absence," Edward said quietly. "It must seem very selfish. I'm sure…I'm sure you have been under more strain than I."

Jake turned to look at him. Edward's face was pale – made whiter by the moonlight that kissed his skin and covered it in jewels – and his eyes were very wide and dark. "You don't have anything to be sorry about. I get it. Bella's still something sore for you." _I just wonder where that leaves us_, he couldn't help thinking.

Edward reached for Jacob's hand, and Jake didn't deny him; their fingers, cold and hot, laced together as strong and sure as tree roots. Some knot in Jacob came undone and relaxed. "My feelings for you haven't changed," Edward assured him. "It was – a very great shock. Bella was all but gone from my mind; to be reminded of her, not just in passing but to hear what she was planning –" He fell silent for a moment, but Jake understood. Hearing about your ex after a painful break-up was one thing. Hearing that she was coming back to snatch you and hand over your boyfriend and a lot of innocents for torture was another thing.

And had he mentioned the army of ravening monsters?

Edward winced, and instantly Jacob felt sorry for his thoughts.

"Don't be," the vampire murmured. "It's true." He closed his eyes. "I cannot imagine what she has become, to be prepared to do so much…"

_Destruction? Chaos? Evil? _

Jacob took a breath. "I'm sorry," he said, tightening his grip on Edward's fingers. "I'm just – yeah, I'm kind of stressed too." He tried to grin. "I'm the alpha now. Don't know if you picked up on that, with the others. But now it's like – all of them," he nodded at his pack, "all of them are on me." His voice turned thick. "And I'm so – so scared that they're not all going to come through this."

He tried not to think about it. Both because there was nothing he could do except what he was doing, and because the last thing he needed was his doubts in the rest of the pack's heads. But it felt like he was cracking, falling apart, and he wasn't crying but Edward's arms were around him, just like before.

"Sometimes I forget how young you are," Edward murmured, and his voice was soft and sad, so achingly sad.

* * *

They had two days left before Bella arrived with her newborns. From dawn till dusk the pack was training with Jasper and the others, pausing only to eat. One of the things Jake insisted on was the pack learning the scents of the vampires that were their allies.

_Focus_, he ordered, showing them in their heads how to separate an individual scent – like _Carlisle _or _Alice_ or _Edward, Edward Edward Edward_ – from the tangled antifreeze mass of _vampire_. _If I can do it, so can you._ It would be too fast-moving in the fight for the wolves to trust their eyes. Surrounded by a lot of flitting vampires, they would have to use their noses – and that meant being able to separate friend from foe.

When full dark hit Jacob led his pack back to the rez to get some sleep and down time, and the Cullens departed to engage in whatever form of stress relief they preferred.

When the last day dawned everyone was tense and twitchy. It was like an itch in the pack-mind, an itch in their heads and their feet and their teeth. Jacob's stomach felt tight, twisted up in knots and full of unused adrenalin, pooling thick and nauseas.

The others were even worse.

They trained some more until the early afternoon, wolf-on-wolf and vampire-on-vampire and some mixing up of the two. Finally, Jake sent everyone but Sam away.

He felt Edward's eyes on him as they left the training clearing, but responsibility lay heavier than craving.

He and Sam spent two hours explaining things to the tribal council. Some of them were horrified. Some of them were angry that they hadn't been told sooner. Some of them made the same panicked mutterings about evacuation that the pack had considered when they'd first heard the news. All of them were terrified.

Jake could only make the same promises over and over, his voice low and rough. "We'll do everything we can. We're going to try. We'll do everything we can."

He didn't meet his father's eyes either as he left.

They might die tomorrow. All of them. The entire pack and then, if the newborns were thirsty enough, the whole tribe. Maybe even Forks as well; who knew how thirsty these monsters were? So it was only right that they split up and preformed their own kinds of last rites, just in case. Some surfed, some walked, some hung out with their families. With their faces pale and their blood gone cold and their steps suddenly unsure.

They were kids. Dammit it all to hell, they were all just freakin' kids.

Jacob ended up on the beach, sitting on a rock with some driftwood and a carving knife in his hand, trying to whittle away his fears while the wolves in the foam lapped at the shore.

* * *

"Here. I made something for you." Silence. "It's nothing, it was really stupid. Never mind. I'll just –"

"Jacob." Gentle.

Wordless, a handing over of something precious. A rustling of fabric as a silken pouch is opened.

"It's –"

"Because I couldn't mark you. Like you did me. With the bite. I just wanted – yeah. Stupid, huh?"

A smile. "I was going to say beautiful, actually, not stupid. Perhaps you could put it on me?"

A swallow, a stiffening of resolve. Then –

"Jacob…Thank you. It's perfect."

Thickly: "I tried."

A kiss. "I love you."

Quiet, intense, heart-felt. "I love you too."


	11. Chapter 10

By the time the sun was risen Bella was almost thrumming with nervous anticipation, eager to be off; she paced restlessly, trying to settle herself, trying to be calm.

But she was ready. And so, more importantly, were her newborns.

She had been building her army for months, and she had done so with the best techniques of the Volturi. Not, of course, that Aro, Caius or Marcus had ever allowed or even approved of the creation of newborns on this scale before. But that had been strictly because those who had tried this before her had been unable to control their charges.

That was not the case with her.

"You understand, of course, that if you fail we will be unable to show you any support or favour," Aro had explained before she left. "It is against the law."

"I understand perfectly, master." She had bowed her head, even curtsied she was so eager to be away. "I will not fail."

In their history against what they called the southern covens the Volturi had amassed a huge amount of knowledge on the rearing, caring and training of newborn soldiers. Bella had been allowed to read her fill of these and even take a few copies with her; combined with her beauty, her drive, her savagery when she felt her objectives were threatened, she was more than capable of keeping her children in line.

Children. They weren't really her children, of course. The only children she would have would be with Edward, when the two of them started their own coven, their own family. Like the Cullens, only better.

But they were not children. She had swept in to claim the ragged beginnings Victoria had made – and for which she was justly executed – but after carefully pruning the first harvest of newborns Bella had chosen her victims much more carefully than Victoria and Riley ever had. She had tracked humans for days at a time before deeming them worthy, before deciding they were smart enough and restrained enough to be what she wanted. The results of this more fastidious method were immediate: newborns who killed each other less, who were tidier with their kills and more apt to pay attention to their training. It was not always successful, and sometimes mistakes were made, but by the time she decided they were ready she had an army to rival any of those of the old southern ones.

The day dawned bright and early.

She was ready.


	12. Chapter 11

The day dawned bright and early.

Jacob's tail twitched.

Last night, after discussing tactics with Sam and Jasper and Carlisle, he and Edward had talked for hours, about everything except the future. And when Jacob couldn't sleep, Edward had discarded his clothes and they'd made love for hours more, slow and sweet enough to break a heart and as harsh and passionate as if it were the last time.

Just in case.

Now, with the dew on the grass and the morning mist being broken up by the first rays of sunlight, Jacob and the others hung back in the trees, downwind from the direction Alice said the newborns were coming from.

Downwind of the direction _Bella _was coming from.

Beside him, Edward stood tense and poised, as if he might burst into a run at any moment. His fingers were tangled in the fur of Jacob's shoulder, twisting and twining in his only sign of nervousness. Carlisle and Esme, Jasper and Alice, Emmett and Rosalie; they had all murmured their soft words, traded embraces and kisses, and Jake knew that Leah had hugged her mom before coming out here this morning, that all of them had made their own maybe-goodbyes.

"Here they come," Edward whispered, and Jacob snapped at Seth for his nervous whine.

One heartbeat. Two. Three. Four. Five. Jacob heard them now, a rustling of snapping branches and bare feet running too quickly to be anything natural. Six. Seven. Eight.

They burst into the clearing, a mass of blurring forms that burst into glitter as they moved into the sunlight.

Jacob didn't howl. He felt Edward's fingers tighten briefly in his fur before his mate let go, and Jake shouted them forward in his head and the dawn flashed on the silver chain around Edward's neck, the chain with the small wooden wolf Jake had carved for him, the wolf that was a mark just like the scar on Jacob's shoulder, and then all hell broke loose.

* * *

The newborns were scared of the wolves. They had come prepared, but hearing a description was not seeing the thing itself, and the wolves were huge and many and come to kill. But it was not a rout. Even with their fear and the Cullens' special abilities, it was not a rout. It was not easy and it was not quick.

There were screams and roars and howls, snarls and shrieks and bleach in his nose and his mouth. His fur was some protection but he bled and his bones broke, and only his supernatural healing kept him on his feet, kept him from being killed by their strength, their numbers, their semi-mindless savagery. He saw their red eyes and remembered, maybe from an old RE class or something, a line from the Bible:

_We are Legion._

That was what they were, mindless soulless demons, and he hated them.

There was no time to think. Two or three would lunge at him and he would have his paws full, snapping, tearing, ripping, shredding, trying to avoid their hands and their arms, dancing like a parade horse to stay out of reach. Pain exploded over him and he ignored it; they cracked and shattered between his teeth and he spat them out and leapt for the next one. Somewhere he understood that his brothers and sisters were doing the same, that they were pairing up and working together, seamlessly, without thought. Driven only by instinct Jacob did the same, sometimes working with Paul and sometimes with Embry to take out a knot of them or drive them away from Jared when one had broken two of his legs, or Seth when he was backed up against an outcropping of rock. He caught glimpses of Alice dancing like a ghost or a bird, of Emmett wrestling, of Carlisle's anguished face as he tore off the head of a black-haired boy.

But he did not see Edward. And eventually that not-thought, that absence of some thing that was vital to the sun rising and setting and the earth continuing to spin, that vital thing, its absence wormed into the core of his subconscious and shrieked like a siren.

In the choking smog of antifreeze and bleach and tar even he couldn't tease out Edward's scent. Not even the power of an imprint could subvert this kind of chaos. And Jacob panicked; it was a riot, a mob, and his fear was an electric current through the pack, racing through them, freezing their hearts, and Jake saw his mate through someone else's eyes and he ran.

* * *

She had hung back, of course, from the melee. But not too far. Far enough to stay out of it while close enough that she could watch and be sure that her army was doing its job.

They were afraid, her newborns. But they were well-trained, and organised, and from her vantage point she could see the wolves being herded.

Did she care about the Cullens? No. Alice, she would have liked to have seen Alice killed, but she had months ago given up on that idea. Edward's sister could foresee any attack and would never be caught unprepared; she could play dodge forever or dart in swiftly to make a kill. Her newborns could kill or avoid the Cullens as they chose, it didn't matter. What mattered was the wolves, the pack she'd promised Caius.

They would have to be hobbled. Their legs broken, probably, and allowed to heal wrong. It would take a lot of hard work to get them to Volterra, but she would do it.

To see Jacob broken and servile, she would do _anything_.

But she was confident. Gary, Annabelle, Ciara, Matthew – her newborn lieutenants were far more capable than that Riley had been. She could see how well they were leading their respective groups to cut the pack off. She was barely watching them; instead Bella scanned the field anxiously for Edward, for his tell-tale flash of copper hair.

That was the risk, the horrible, terrible risk that made her feel the cold of her vampire body. In all the confusion, however organised, Edward might be _hurt_. Suddenly her newborns didn't seem so regimented; suddenly it seemed like mad chaos down there, full of emotional newborns who might just forget her orders and attack the graceful male with bronze hair.

_Please, please don't let him be hurt,_ she prayed.

"Bella."

She froze, hardly daring to believe it. But when she turned, her hand resting on the gnarled trunk of the tree beside her, her eyes confirmed it.

"Edward," she breathed.

* * *

Jacob was running, four feet pounding the ground still slick with dew, stumbling and tired and unable to stop.

Except that he had to stop. Every time his paw met the grass there was another newborn, and another, and Rosalie was in trouble or Sam or Quil –

God, gods, spirits, everything and anything – _please don't let anything happen to Edward!_

* * *

She raced to him, but when she tried to put her arms around him he shoved her away, hard enough to make her stumble – even though she was still technically a newborn, even though she was so much stronger than him.

"Don't touch me," he said, and his voice was pure anguish.

Hurt blossomed inside her, like blood blooming in water. "What's wrong?" She found her balance again, lightly, instantly, concern flooding her. "No one hurt you, did they? The newborns? I told them not to." Anger flared, quick and bright. "I'll punish the ones that did it. Describe them to me, I'll deal with them. I'll –"

"The newborns did not touch me," Edward said harshly. "They almost seemed to avoid me. You must have them wonderfully trained, Bella. Like a pack of hunting dogs."

Bella frowned. "No. Like an army, not a pack." Her mouth twisted. "Dogs are slobbering, ravening things. I would never bring a rescue team that acted like dogs."

"A rescue team…? You don't still believe that, do you?" She had never seen him like this before, and it scared her. If he'd been human, she would have said he were about to cry; but when she went to comfort him he shrugged her off again. "What have you done, Bella?" He whispered. "What did you do?"

"I…I don't understand." For the first time in a long time – in her whole vampire life, maybe – she felt fear. "I – I came to rescue you. You didn't know where I was, I had to come get you, so we could be together. With the Volturi, where we'll be safe –"

"Of course I knew where you were, Bella!" Edward cried. "Of course I knew! Alice saw you with Aro, and I saw it in her mind." His eyes were dark gold – she fretted, was he feeding enough? – and tormented. "Do you have any idea how much pain the sight of you in his arms caused me?"

"It was the only way!" Bella remembered crying, remembered and wished, suddenly and sharply, that she still could. "You wouldn't turn me, Edward! How were we supposed to be together if I never became a vampire?" He was shaking his head, his face agonised, so sorrowful, so full of suffering, like a picture of a saint. "I didn't want it to be him, I wanted it to be you, but you wouldn't listen! _You wouldn't turn me!_"

He only looked at her. Broken, so broken and sad. "She was right," he whispered. "Alice was right."

"_No!_ " Bella lunged, panicked and frightened as a newly-turned newborn facing a werewolf, "_No_ Edward, _no!_" She caught Edward and she w_as_ stronger, she w_as, _she would explain things and make him see sense and he would come _home_, Edward would come home to her and everything would be perfect, just like it should be. "You can't leave me. You can't! _You don't understand!_"

"Edward!"

* * *

He phased when he saw them together, when he knew there was no way to tear Bella away from the lock she had around Edward's throat _ (so fragile, so god-damn fragile please gods don't let her hurt him)_ and he forgot to be self-conscious of his nakedness, with his heart like a hummingbird in his chest and his blood roaring in his ears and his voice steady and sure as thunder:

"Let him _go_."

She was beautiful, so beautiful, even Jacob could admit that. Until that sparkling face contorted around two eyes like rubies _ (killer, human-blood-drinker murderer!)_ and she hissed.

"_You!"_

But she didn't lunge for him as he'd hoped; her hands tightened on Edward's neck. "He's mine!" She yelled, hating and desperate and scared. "_Mine!_ You can't have him!"

"Jake," Edward gasped, and vampires didn't need to breathe so when Edward writhed Jacob panicked, panicked because she was hurting him, panicked because the girl he'd been sort-of-in-love-with once upon a time was a monster, panicked because Edward was his mate and she was trying to take him away.

He phased between one step and the next, and they never knew if Bella would have released Edward to defend herself or not. They never knew if she valued Edward's life above hers or if, when it came right down to it, she was as selfish as they'd thought she was.

Jacob ripped her head off, and they never knew.


	13. Epilogue: Swan Song

It had long since come out that Bella had not been staying in California – or wherever – with her mother. But safe in his bubble-world of pack and tribe and Edward, Jacob hadn't been a part of Charlie's frantic, dark-eyed downward spiral. It hadn't touched him, though Billy had seen it and been touched by it.

Yesterday had been the official memorial.

Jacob crumpled the little leaflet that had contained the songs and prayers and when to stand and sit, and tossed it in the trash.

Two months ago the Cullens and the pack had driven off the newborn attack. There were new faces – the Olympic Coven had adopted Bree and her partner, some guy named Diego who hadn't been in the battle at all. And Emily had given birth to the beautiful baby boy they'd all been expecting for a while now.

But Seth was dead. And that was a raw, screaming agony that had driven Jacob as far away from all things vampire as he could get. A vampire had killed him and a vampire had been the cause of the conflict, and it was easier to blame them than to face the fact that Jake had been the one to send Seth into battle in the first place. Jake had been the one who allowed it when Seth begged and pleaded, and Jake was the one who was supposed to protect him.

He had been too small and too young and too unable to separate the vampires that were his friends with the ones come to kill him, and he'd hesitated just a second too long.

And then he was dead.

They'd burned his body on the beach. It wasn't the normal burial but Seth had loved the beach, loved the waves and the crackle of the bonfires they lit after a day spent surfing, and it seemed appropriate. There had been speeches and tears but eventually the pack had driven everyone but Sue away. She was the only one allowed to see their tribute to her son as they sang the wolf-song of loss until dawn.

Jake had howled the loudest and the longest, and when it was over he walked Sue and Leah home.

The hole where Seth had been – their puppy, their mascot, the light-hearted enthusiastic optimistic _Seth_ – wasn't ever going to close over. Maybe if they'd been normal human friends – but Seth had been a vital thread in the tapestry of the pack, a unique note in the wolf-song, a familiar and needed soul melting into the pack-mind. And now he was gone.

But he had been the one to bring Jake his passport, and he would never have forgiven his alpha for not doing this.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Edward asked again. "I feel ridiculous, Jacob."

"You look it, too." The grin felt strange on Jacob's face, new and raw as if he weren't used to it anymore, but he knew that would change. He knew Edward would change that. "Green's a good colour for you, though."

Edward snorted, but his lips twitched. The green blindfold was only the icing on the cake – the real challenge was thinking of nothing but the motorbike engine he was building in his head, piece by piece so that Edward wouldn't hear where they were going.

It was almost impossible, but Quil and Embry had been helping him practice in wolf-form.

Jacob stopped, and feeling it through their joined hands Edward stopped too.

Watching his mate's face, Jacob felt a cracking of the hard, icy layer that had become plated around his heart, enough to let something warm and tender well out. Edward looked adorable and silly, but it was knowing that the vampire was submitting to this indignity _for Jacob_ that made him want to well up.

Gently, he let go of Edward's fingers. The vampire stiffened, but then relaxed as Jake cupped his mate's face and kissed him softly.

"You can take off the blindfold now," he murmured.

"Finally," Edward muttered, but he was smiling. He blinked as the light found his eyes, and he pushed the green cloth into his pocket, looking around with dawning comprehension. "Jacob. Where are we?"

Jake smiled, and led Edward up the steps. The wolf pendant swung out over Edward's shirt. "Come on. I want you to meet my dad."


End file.
